Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

This time last year, Aontú proposed a motion in this Chamber seeking the ending of the means test for the carer's allowance. That motion was co-signed by Seán Canney and Noel Grealish who are now junior Ministers in this Government and it had a timeframe of 2027 for the complete abolition of the means test. It is very clear that there is absolutely no will in the Government to abolish the means test by 2027, which is shocking. This particular motion had the will of the Chamber here. The big problem I have with the Government at the moment is that it treats this payment as if it is social welfare. It is not social welfare. Care work is some of most essential work that happens in Irish society. The idea that it is being treated in the same manner as social welfare is absolutely wrong. It is often done out of love but it is tough work. It is long hours and it often means significant sacrifice. I am talking about sacrifice in terms of income as well; income that would been earned if that individual was in another job. It is also work that is predominately done by women therefore it also has a significant impact on women throughout the country and their incomes. If we want to know what this Government values, just follow where the money goes. In all forms of care, the Government does not value care. Whether it is childcare, care for people in nursing homes or children in State care, these are many of the jobs that are paid the least of all the different jobs that exist in this country. There is also a fool's economy here in relation to this. If the Government does not fund carers, cares do not do the work they do and if the State has to step in and fill that gap, it will cost the State billions of euro. Indeed, it is estimated that the whole value of care that carers are providing at the moment is worth about €20 billion. Therefore, it is does not make sense that the Government is not focusing funding in this space as it saves the Government significant money.

I wish to mention a reply to a parliamentary question we got back over the last few days. Incredibly, 37% of carers who applied for carer's allowance last year were refused. That is an incredibly high figure. Nearly 40% of the applicants are being failed on an annual basis. The truth of the matter is that it looks like the Government is going to fail more applicants this year than it did last year. The Government talks about the fact that it has improved the income disregard in the last 12 months, but the income disregard change is actually having no effect on the number of people who are being failed in their application for carer's allowance. Unless the Government gets real in this, it is going to condemn tens of thousands of people to lower incomes, poverty and to not being recognised for they are doing. That is wrong.

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