Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the delegation that is here. I fully support this Labour Party motion. Family carers are a large group of people who have been tragically neglected by the State. They provide vital unpaid care, often under severe financial pressure and with huge personal sacrifice. In the case of young carers, this sacrifice can include losing out on parts of childhood and carrying unsustainable emotional burdens. Caring for a family member can be all-consuming. This often happens in a context where the person has been denied a range of supports that are essential to their well-being, their opportunities and their longer term outcomes.

I know from my previous work as a psychologist that the role of a young carer can give a person strengths and qualities, including resilience, emotional attunement and resourcefulness, which serve them well throughout their lives. They sometimes go on to work in the caring professions, and are seen by friends as problem solvers with endless practical wisdom and emotional reserves. However, being a young carer can also have complex impacts on identity and mental health, and can place the young person in a role that is developmentally at odds with their actual age. I pay tribute to one of the young carers who spoke with raw honesty in the audiovisual room session today about the ambivalent feelings her caregiving has given rise to. I also commend Deputy Mark Wall on organising that event and the other speakers who shared powerful testimony at that session.

An NUIG study from 2018 showed that 13.3% of young people between the ages of ten and 17 report being in a caring role. Extrapolation to the national population suggests that at least 67,000 young people in that age group provide regular unpaid care to a family member. Across a range of indicators of emotional health and well-being, young carers reported poorer outcomes than their non-carer peers. Young carers are at greater risk than their peers of being bullied at school. One in four young carers said that they went to school or bed hungry because there was not enough food at home. A 2023 study on young carers commissioned by Family Carers Ireland showed that 86% of participants felt stressed, 80% were at risk of clinical depression, 79% felt very lonely and 32% struggled to balance caring with school.

Caring for somebody can be isolating, worrying and stressful. It can also negatively affect the person's experiences and outcomes in education and can have a lasting impact on life opportunities. We know that young carers are four times more likely to drop out of higher level education. Young carers, therefore, need a range of social, educational and psychological supports to address the burden of care they carry. Schools, colleges and universities need to work with young carers and young adult carer groups to ensure that they have appropriate policies and networks to meet the needs of those carers who are pupils or students. Young carers need access to respite and emotional support, advice from mentors and, where necessary, counselling services. They need time to be with friends, to participate in sport and other activities or interests and, in short, to live their life and develop their identity outside a caring role, which can be all-consuming.

Looking more broadly at the picture for family carers, it is estimated that approximately 500,000 people in Ireland, or one in eight of the population, are family carers. According to The State of Caring 2024 report, which was also commissioned by Family Carers Ireland, 74% of carers felt that those they care for are not receiving sufficient formal support and family carers are left to fill the void left by the State. Stepping into the role of a family carer can often plunge a family into financial distress. According to The State of Caring report, 39% of carers have a total income of less than €30,000 and 29% have had to cut back on essentials such as food and heat as a result.

In addition to the ongoing work on phasing out the means test for carer's allowance, does the Minister plan to increase the rate of carer's allowance to an appropriate level, one that reflects the social importance of the work? As it stands, the means test leaves many carers struggling financially and below the established minimum essential standard of living. It excludes thousands of carers and leaves others with reduced or partial payments. It currently takes no account of the cost to families of their mortgage repayments, the cost associated with other children in a family, or medical costs for the person being cared for. In short, it does not reflect the reality of life faced by family carers.

We need to consider more than just the phasing out of the means test if we are to really help these families. Will the Minister expand the ongoing work on reviewing the eligibility criteria with a view to allowing more people to qualify? Will she also consider making carer's allowance a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance? What specific measures for young carers will she introduce so that their specific educational, emotional and social needs are addressed?

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