Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)

I move:

"That Dáil Éireann: recognises:

— the invaluable contribution of family carers, who provide full-time care to family members with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or age-related care needs, often at great personal, financial and emotional cost;

— that family carers play a critical role in the Irish care system, providing unpaid labour that saves the State more than €20 billion every year, preventing avoidable hospital admissions, and enabling many people to remain safely in their own homes and communities; and

— that, despite their immense contribution to this country, carers are disproportionately affected by social and financial hardship, with many experiencing isolation, stress, and difficulty balancing caring responsibilities with paid employment, as documented in the State of Caring Reports and other research conducted by Family Carers Ireland;

notes that:

— modest increases to the income disregards in recent budgets have not resolved the underlying unfairness of the means test and have left many carers ineligible for support;

— the application of a means test penalises households in which carers are providing full-time care, resulting in many carers being denied support, despite undertaking work that benefits the State and the wider community; and

— the removal of the means test will simplify administration, reduce delays in payments, and eliminate a barrier that currently forces many carers to navigate a complex and intrusive process, simply to access the support to which they are entitled;

further notes that:

— this reform is consistent with a rights-based approach to social protection, recognising that carers provide essential care and should not be treated as means-tested dependents, but as partners in delivering care in Irish society;

— carers themselves have called for an end to the means test, citing the emotional and financial toll of current arrangements, the complexity of the assessment process, and the stigma of being judged on household income rather than on the care they provide;

— Family Carers Ireland, and other advocacy organisations, have repeatedly called for the abolition of the means test, highlighting that current arrangements create bureaucratic complexity, financial stress, and disincentives to claim;

— in September 2024, the Regional Group of TDs introduced a Dáil motion demanding the abolition of the means test for carers by 2027; and

— the Government has not firmly committed to abolishing the means test for carers, and the Programme for Government instead says "commits to significantly increase the income disregards for Carer's Allowance in each Budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of the Government";

agrees that:

— the abolition of the Carer's Allowance means test is a necessary step towards creating a more equitable, transparent, and humane social welfare system, that recognises the contribution of all carers, including those who are currently excluded due to household income; and

— the introduction of this measure in Budget 2026 represents a timely opportunity to honour the social contract with carers, deliver on election commitments, and create a system that treats all full-time carers with fairness, dignity, and respect; and

calls on the Government to abolish the means test for Carer's Allowance with effect from 1st January, 2026."

Carers play a vital, under-recognised and undervalued role in our society. They take on the enormous task of looking after a family member with a chronic illness, disability or age-related need. The unrelenting nature of their work often comes at great personal, financial and emotional cost. Carers are the unsung heroes of a society where the basics, on so many levels, are not met for the relatives they are looking after. They experience the sharp edge of the State's failings every single day. Carers' work can be deeply rewarding, yet due to poor support, it is often isolating, draining and demoralising. The last thing they need or deserve is the intrusion and administrative burden of a means test for the carer's allowance, which is a modest payment on which most people would struggle to sustain themselves amid today's cost-of-living pressures. That is why today the Social Democrats are bringing a motion before the Dáil calling for the means test for the carer's allowance to be abolished with effect from 1 January 2026.

Our Government talks a lot about valuing carers. However, those words will be put to the test in the upcoming budget on 7 October. Will the Government continue to tinker around the edges of the carer's allowance means test or will it finally scrap it, as advocacy groups and carers themselves have been urging successive Governments to do for years? Pre-budget kite-flying in newspapers last weekend, as well as the Taoiseach's comments on Leaders' Questions yesterday, indicate that, unfortunately, it will be the former. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, intends to increase the income disregards for the carer's allowance means test to €825 per month for a single person and €1,650 per month for a couple. While more carers will become eligible for the allowance as a result, a deeply unfair two-tier system will remain, with thousands of carers still failing to qualify for a payment. Additionally, many carers currently in receipt of the allowance will continue to live in anxiety that a slight change in their financial circumstances or those of their partner will tip them into no longer being eligible.

Any Government talk of phasing out the means test over the lifetime of the Thirty-fourth Dáil will be of little comfort to the thousands of carers in need of help now. Carers make extraordinary sacrifices to look after their family members, often at the expense of their careers or academic ambitions. In doing so, they are estimated to save the State a staggering €20 billion per year, with their unpaid labour preventing avoidable hospital admissions and enabling many people to remain living safely in their homes and communities. The means test is an insult to the tireless work of carers who are shut out for the offence of having a modest income or hard-earned savings. With care responsibilities falling disproportionately on women, it is also a clear case of gender inequality. Means-testing effectively sends a message to women that their work is not real unless their household is poor enough. It reinforces dependency, limits autonomy and perpetuates gender discrimination. Over 70% of carers are women, with many forced out of the workplace or trapped in part-time jobs. The means test compounds inequality by tethering their entitlements to their partner's earnings or household savings. In effect, the system tells women that their caregiving has no value unless their husband or partner earns little enough for them to qualify. In a modern society, it is an antiquated method of assessing an application for a State payment. No other form of employment is treated in this way. Teachers, nurses, gardaí and bus drivers receive wages based on their work and not on household incomes or savings, or, absurdly, the earnings of their spouses. Only carers, whose labour is indispensable to the health and social systems, are asked to prove they are poor enough to qualify. This approach implies that carers are seeking charity rather than fair recognition and basic remuneration for their work.

The carer's allowance is officially classified as a social assistance payment, which is deeply problematic. Family Carers Ireland rightly argues that this is inappropriate as it frames care as charity for the poor rather than recognising it as essential work that sustains the health and social systems. It reduces the essential skills and exhausting efforts of carers to a discretionary handout. Advocacy groups consistently stress that this treatment undermines dignity and reinforces the false notion that care is optional rather than work that keeps families together and prevents overcrowding in our health system.

The means test is an extremely blunt instrument. For many carers, even if income disregards are expanded, a modest amount earned by a partner can still result in the loss of the carer's allowance, plunging families off a financial cliff. Regular reviews by the Department of Social Protection leave carers living in constant anxiety that this modest payment will be taken away. Family Carers Ireland has long argued that the means test punishes rather than supports. With over one third of applications initially refused, families are being forced into lengthy appeals. Inclusion Ireland has highlighted that parents supporting a child with an intellectual disability face bureaucratic barriers that pile further stress on top of the exhaustion of their daily lives.

There is widespread acceptance across the political divide that the means test for the carer's allowance needs to go. In fact, three Regional Independent TDs who are supporting the current Government, Deputy Michael Lowry and the Ministers of State, Deputies Grealish and Canney, signed a Private Members' motion in advance of last year's budget seeking the abolition of the means test by 2027.

Raising the income disregards for carer's allowance might sound generous but is fundamentally flawed. It is piecemeal and bureaucratic, and always lagging behind inflation and the actual cost of living. It penalises dual-income families and forces many carers into endless paperwork. It feels like a draining and grinding process for which they often do not have the energy. The prospect of a small pay rise wiping out or depleting an entitlement is a constant worry for many.

Carers deserve better in next week's budget. The Government must commit to the full abolition of the means test, along with greater investment in respite, training and mental health support for carers. Under the Social Democrats' proposals, the full €370 million cost of ending the means test could be met by tripling the bank levy. Treating carers as though they are charity cases whose work is conditional on household income or their partner's wages is callous, unjust and antiquated. Carers need immediate and real change, not incremental measures masquerading as serious reform. Reform would provide immediate recognition and some security and support for carers whose unpaid labour sustains families, communities and the State.

See this speech in context