Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I formally congratulate him on his election and welcome him back to Leinster House.

The carer's allowance is the main scheme by which my Department provides income support to the very important work done by carers in the community. The primary objective of the carer's allowance payment is to provide an income support to those carers whose earning capacity is substantially reduced. There are currently 98,311 people in receipt of carer's allowance and expenditure in 2025 is estimated to be more than €1.24 billion.

A number of significant improvements have made to the means test in recent years. As part of budget 2025, the weekly income disregard will increase from €450 to €625 for a single person, and from €900 to €1,250 for carers with a spouse or partner. This amounts to cumulative increases to the disregards of €292.50 and €585, respectively, since June 2022.

An interdepartmental working group involving the Departments of Health and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth was established last year to examine and review the system of means-testing for carer payments. I hope to have the report on its findings in the coming weeks.

The Government is very aware of the key role family carers play in society and the challenges they face on a daily basis. We have set out a timeline that commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for carer's allowance in each budget over the course of the next five years, with the ultimate view of phasing out the means test during the lifetime of the Government.

It will be a priority for me to do that, as I have discussed this morning, over the five budgets that will be presented by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform during the lifetime of the Government. This is a key commitment in the programme for Government and it is something that will be a priority for me as Minister in the Department of Social Protection.

See this speech in context