Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday morning, I attended a hustings event organised by Family Carers Ireland. It laid out its asks of political parties going into this general election and what it wants to see included in every party's manifesto. At the top of that list was the abolition of the carer's allowance means test. It was going on what carers themselves were asking for. The room was full of carers and many carers joined us online too because they are not in a position to leave their homes and come to an event such as that. The feeling in that room was one of anger and of being ignored and taken for granted, and their needs not being met. As Deputy Ó Laoghaire said, it is reckoned that family carers save the State billions of euro every year. If one asks any family carer, they do not do what they do because of what money they might receive, but out of love and responsibility for the person they care for. They would not change it for the world but they need supports, which they are not getting at the moment.

People yesterday talked about the amount of care that they provide, around the clock in some cases. Parents talked about children with complex disabilities who may need to be turned over or seen to during the night. Others talked about their autistic children who do not sleep for more than two or three hours at a time. When the children are up, they are up, because they have to ensure the safety of their child. Another carer who is caring for her parents talked about how she gets so little sleep because her father has dementia. He does not realise what time of day or night it is and he may be up during the night as well, which means she is up to ensure that he is safe. Many of the carers in the room yesterday were providing care for over 30 years. I know of carers in my constituency who have been providing for even longer than that. Their main worry is what will happen to their loved ones when they pass and it is really upsetting for them. I was speaking to a carer in my constituency yesterday evening. She is a carer for her two sons. Her mother has also developed dementia. As that progresses, she knows she will be a carer for her mother too. She was in receipt of the carer's allowance, which is being reviewed because of her husband's wages. She has been cut off at the moment because she did not get the information that she requires. She is addressing that but she realises that it will be cut or maybe cut off completely. She is so disappointed because she is not in a position to go out and work and earn money. Her loved ones, her two sons and her mother in time, will require the care that she will provide, yet because her husband's earnings are over a certain threshold, she will be penalised.

Many carers talked yesterday about their treatment at the Intreo office or at the hands of staff of the Department of Social Protection. This is not to say that all of them are the same but some of them do not treat people with empathy. They tell stories where they are just left feeling worthless and are hauled over the coals about how many hours they worked in the week and whether they worked slightly over their 18.5 hours. We really need to trust that carers will provide proper care to loved ones and, if they are in a position to do a few hours of work outside the home or to undertake a training or educational course, that they will ensure they still provide the care that is required to their loved ones. I do not know about this restriction to 18.5 hours. It precludes them from taking part in a community employment scheme, for example, which would provide an outlet for many.

Sinn Féin has given a commitment to remove the carer's allowance means test in the course of one term of government. In our alternative budget this year, we would raise the threshold to €1,460 for a couple and €730 per week for a single person, which was far beyond what the Government was prepared to do. I think the Government only committed something like €11 million in additional funding to the carer's allowance scheme, where we would have committed €100 million. We would have made those changes from January. I cannot understand this delay in passing on the increases until July. That is not fair. The issue of being left to wait for seven months is not happening to any other sector. Many carers talked about the devastation of the lack of supports. Home care is a huge issue. Carers, especially where there are complex disabilities within the home, require people to come in to help them, perhaps to change the person or where a hoist is required, and they are regularly left high and dry, without that vital support. This is creating another pressure on them.

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