Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government is committed to dealing with the means test in respect of the carer's allowance and it will be in the next budget that progress on that front will commence.

We will have to wait until budget time and the lead-up to the budget on that issue. It is a very important issue that is in the programme for Government and all parties to the programme for Government are very committed to doing this. It is very important.

More broadly, it is about how we can support families with children with special needs across the income spectrum and do everything we can to ease the financial pressures many of them are under. I take the Deputy's point that this year there are challenges but the budget last year was enormous. There was significant expenditure. We will do this on a programme basis and, on a number of fronts, we will endeavour to help people in the circumstances the Deputy identified.

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