Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

I thank the Social Democrats for introducing this motion. I have lost count of the number of times we have debated this matter in the Dáil. I welcome that there is a commitment in the programme for Government to get rid of the means test, but I will not be surprised if we end up going into the next general election with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promising to get rid of it. The failure to provide a timeline is extremely concerning and suggests this is one of these promises that will not be met and many more debates like this will be required to keep the pressure up.

We in People Before Profit are against all means testing of social welfare payments. We believe in universal benefits. If you have a child, you get child benefit. If you lose your job, you get jobseeker’s benefit. In the same way, if you are a carer you should get carer’s allowance. It is as simple as that. There should be no intrusive questions asked about whether you are in a relationship or how much your partner earns. That is irrelevant. It is also deeply sexist, as the majority of family carers are women.

We need to get away from the approach that underlies this, which is about putting responsibility for care onto families. It is very convenient for the State because it saves it about €20 billion per year, but instead of privatising care or expecting families to do the work for free or at a very low cost, the State needs to step up and properly resource care. It needs to fully fund respite and care services rather than expecting charities to raise funds all the time to keep the doors open. It is especially important for older carers, like Tony and Susan Murray, who are caring full-time into their 70s and 80s because of a lack of Government services. Tony told RTÉ that "we have this kind of playing around with rights - there are no rights ... the fact is Aoife [who is their daughter] needs care and needs service and it’s going to cost".

Our alternative budget, which is being launched tomorrow, would immediately abolish the means test for carer’s allowance, disability allowance, the blind pension and the invalidity pension. We would also increase the basic rate of carer’s allowance by €90 to €350 a week. At the moment it is €260. You jump through all the hoops, you fill out a 28-page application form and your reward at the end of that is a measly €7.43 an hour. That calculation is based on working 35 hours a week as a carer. As we all know, many carers are working much more hours than that, meaning they are being paid even less than €7.43 an hour. This is completely unacceptable. It shows a continued lack of respect for carers from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Lowry group. As long as there is a means test for carer’s allowance and an income disregard, there will be an official State disregard for carers and the people they care for. Carers have had enough. It is clear. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to stop paying lip service to carers, put their money where their mouths are and abolish the means test for carer’s allowance. They could do it in next week’s budget.

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