Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)

I strongly welcome and support this motion. I worked as a carer for people with disabilities for 18 years. I have witnessed first-hand the invaluable work carried out by thousands of other carers across this country and I can say this: I, along with the carers who I worked with over those years, am sick and tired of hearing the Minister and his colleagues singing their praises in this Chamber. Enough of the empty words of praise. The time for the respect and support the Minister promised is long passed.

We are nearly a year on from the general election, an election where the Government made a clear commitment to abolish the means test for carers. Yet, here we stand with no plan, no timeline and only more excuses. Scrapping the means test is not a complex policy puzzle. It is a straightforward act of justice. It should have been a day one priority for this Government. This broken promise ensures that thousands of carers, who provide vital work in every community, are left struggling financially each and every week. These carers have sacrificed their own financial security to care for a loved one. They stepped up where the State stepped back. Let us not forget that the vast majority of carers are women. They bare the brunt of the Government's failure. Their work saves the State billions of euro, yet the Government has pushed them into financial dependency, forced to rely on a partner's income just to get by. The time for words of praise has passed. It is time for action and the first action must be the abolishment of the means test now. Week after week, I am contacted by parents of children with disabilities. These are parents who are struggling, fighting and sacrificing in every way imaginable. For them, being a carer is not some nine-to-five job. For them, it is 24 hours a day, hands-on caring, with little or no respite. Thousands of them do not even get the recognition of being a carer. Let us be clear: the State has not just failed these carers. They are shamefully failing those in need of care.

I have stood with grown men and women who have broken down in despair because they want to stay in their own home and not be put in a nursing home. They want to stay in the environment they have known their whole lives. Families are torn between caring for their loved ones or paying their mortgage. Let us be clear: the carer's respite grant is not used for respite or holidays. It is swallowed up by household bills. Those in need of care are failed from cradle to grave. We are letting down the most vulnerable among us.

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