Ann Graves (Dublin Fingal East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Carers and front-line health workers are the backbone of our care system. I want to acknowledge the hundreds of thousands of home carers in Ireland who are our unsung heroes. Carers enable people to care and to live independently in their own homes with dignity for as long as they can. This is hugely important for people's quality of life and it greatly reduces the pressure on our healthcare system. Home carers in Ireland are estimated to save the Government €20 million annually through caregiving work. This amount is equivalent to the cost of building numerous hospitals, MetroLinks, building projects and houses. More than 500,000 family carers in Ireland provide this essential service. Their unpaid work is crucial for the functioning of the healthcare system. This essential work should not be taken for granted. It should be respected, supported and adequately funded. Sinn Féin would abolish the carer's allowance means test, introduce a pay-related carer benefit and increase social protection supports for people with disabilities and carers. Abolishing the means test would have a positive and immediate benefit for people.

A constituent of mine has been refused carer's allowance because of the means test. Collette had a carer who went above and beyond the call of duty. She was Collette's lifeline to the outside world. Unfortunately, she was denied the carer's allowance in March this year. This has had a devastating effect on Collette who said:

I am legally blind and have Parkinson's disease. She was not just my carer; she went above and beyond to help me. She brought me to appointments, of which I have many, she did some housework and looked after my showers. She got me up and dressed and put on some make-up to make me feel good about myself daily and this has taken a toll on me the last couple of weeks without her help.

I appeal to the Minister of State and the Government, on behalf of all the Collettes out there, to please support this motion.

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