Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)

Independent Ireland has looked for the means test to be abolished. It is not about the means test; it is about care. If we are practical about it, an awful lot of people could be outside the threshold because they may have been left something by a loved one or their partner might be working two jobs to try to put food on the table and it puts them outside the means test threshold. If we look at areas where we have no home help and where we cannot get care for people in this country, the Government has put an obstacle in the way of a means test. It is not about means; it is about the care. If the Government looked at what it would cost the other sectors to provide the same care and put that into funds, it would not be able to provide it anywhere. Why is the Government putting an obstacle in the way for care? Talking about home help, it cannot be got. Why? Again, people are afraid of being targeted. I have people in my office day on day, wanting to care for people who the Government cannot allow for. They are willing to do it but they are saying their family will be affected if they do it because it is means tested. We have inflation, we have things going double the cost in this country and people are trying to live. They also want to care but the means test is what is stopping this. It is mean of the Government not to allow care. Independent Ireland is asking the Government to scrap the means test and to look at the care and the benefit of looking after people in their own homes. To wrap this up, it is mean for the Government not to allow care when it looks at it from a financial point of view. It is about the care, not the means.

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