Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion. It is simple: the means test for carers needs to be abolished. The means test excludes thousands of carers right across this State. I will give some examples. These are real people from my constituency who have come into my constituency office looking for help. There is a woman from my own area who was in receipt of carer's allowance. Her income and her partner's income were reassessed in January 2025. The Department used her partner's payslip from November 2024, which included his Christmas bonus. She explained this to them and then submitted the payslips for January and February 2025 to show what the normal income was. The Department continued to assess his income from the November payslip and reduced her carer's allowance by over €200 a week. That is nearly the entire payment. She appealed this and only yesterday - I will send the Minister the details - we got news that she lost this appeal. This is simply not fair.

Other carers tell me they do not even bother to apply for the carer's allowance, even though they should get it, because they know they are going to go over the threshold. I think this is something the Government wants. Other carers are afraid to go back to work in case their carer's allowance is taken off them. It is creating a glass ceiling for carers.

There is another lady who is working part time and caring for her son. Her partner refused a promotion because their income would bring them over the threshold and she would lose the carer's allowance. Can the Minister tell me how this is fair, valuing carers or valuing the people who carers care for? It does not matter what your income is; a carer is a carer. The Government failed to keep its promises at the last election. It has a chance to rectify that in the budget and a chance to keep its word to the people.

I thank the carers in this country for the service they provide. It is absolutely invaluable. I value them and it is high time the Government valued them too.

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