Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

According to Family Carers Ireland, three in four of the family carers it surveyed indicated that the people they support do not receive sufficient formal support and 72% had never received any respite. The Minister should think about how his words will sound to a person who is stuck at home and does not have access to respite, as is the case for most people. As the Minister knows, that is because the waiting lists are chronic and the lack of staff is causing severe distress for people.

The Minister gave a commitment that it would be phased back and he is walking it back now and saying he will do his best in negotiations and the budget has to be negotiated. Will he give an indication of how he will get it phased out? If this Government does run its full term, and I think I am not the only person in this State who wishes that it will not, is he saying definitively that by its end the means test for carers will be abolished? Is he confident that will be the case? That is the kind of rhetoric that he and his party engaged in during the run up to the election.

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