Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

The carer's allowance is the main scheme by which my Department provides income support to carers in the community. There are currently more than 100,000 people in receipt of carer's allowance. Expenditure in 2025 is estimated to be over €1.24 billion.

My Department also provides other supports for carers which are not based on a means assessment, including the carer's support grant, carer's benefit and domiciliary care allowance.

Carer's allowance aims to provide income support to those whose earning ability is greatly impacted by their caring responsibilities and who need income support.

The programme for Government has set out a timeline which commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for carer's allowance in each budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of this Government.

Significant changes have been made to the carer's allowance means test in recent years. From July, there will be a further increase which will see the weekly income disregard rise from €450 to €625 for a single person, and from €900 to €1,250 for carers with a spouse or a partner. This amounts to cumulative increases to the disregards of €292.50 and €585, respectively, since June 2022. These increases make the scheme accessible to more people and may increase payment rates for those currently on a reduced rate. A carer in a two-adult household with an income of approximately €69,000 will still retain his or her full carer's payment. The same carer with an income of €97,000 will retain a partial payment. Before the disregards were increased in June 2022, these figures stood at €37,000 and €60,000, respectively, for a two-adult household.

Means reviews form an important part of my Department's control mechanisms to help ensure people are in receipt of the correct amount. It is important to remember that reviews can lead to increases in payments to recipients as well as reductions. My Department undertakes periodic reviews to help minimise incorrect payments.

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