Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure the welfare and well-being of everyone in this country, especially the most vulnerable. Carers provide for those most vulnerable. They are some of the most incredible people in this country. Their tireless and important work needs to be properly recognised. Often when people in the Government talk about carers, they note how inspirational, hardworking and compassionate they are.

What seems to be the harder truth for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Government to acknowledge is that, actually, carers are some of the most exploited workers in this country today. The work done by those who care for children, the disabled and the elderly is not recognised, and there is no real conversation about the value of this work or the cost of this work to themselves and to wider society.

None of us would survive without care. It is fundamental to our relationships as human beings as well as to our survival, yet the economic market model we have places no financial value on care, and that is fundamentally flawed. We have a skewed economy and a skewed society that rewards speculative greed and ignores, penalises and undervalues caring roles. We need to see a change to this. Carers need to be viewed as central to our economy and society for us to recognise the role they play.

Poverty and deprivation disproportionately affects carers. The 2024 Pobal disability and deprivation report found that rates of deprivation are higher among people with disabilities or health limitations. The risk of consistent poverty hovers over these families and it is them whom the Government is subjecting to means-testing that is part of the fabric of their daily lives of worry. They worry about the future for their relatives, their health, the health of those they are caring for, access to services, waiting lists and must constantly push and try to find services. The least that could be done to recognise these carers is to remove the punitive means test. There are adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s who have ageing parents and have started caring for them. These are adults who cannot afford a home and are among the 15% of carers who rent privately and precariously. Of the 37% of carers who are mortgage holders, 17%, or nearly one in five, missed a mortgage payment in 2024. Of the 15% renting privately, 35% missed a rent payment in 2024.

These are carers missing mortgage repayments or rent payments. Alongside the stress, challenges and commitment involved in caring, carers are also struggling financially. Can the Minister imagine the stress of that struggle, the daily toll it takes, and how it shortens their own lives and reduces their ability to provide the care they are so dedicated to providing? There is a cost-of-living crisis, but it disproportionately affects carers. The State must step up and ensure no carers are living in poverty. We need a change in approach to carers. We need Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Government to support this motion. The Social Democrats’ vision for Ireland is a vision for a compassionate, caring republic; a social, democratic Ireland of care, where everyone can live in dignity, a true social democracy. Abolishing the means test is the first step in achieving that.

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