John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

recognises:— the vital contribution carers make to the economic and social life of the nation, and further acknowledges this by providing them with adequate income supports;

— that carers are real and equal partners in the provision of care at every level of public sector planning and service delivery, from designing a service to individual care planning;

— that carers are the backbone of the Irish health care system;

— that although family carers in the majority of cases are on call 24 hours per day and 365 days per year, they do not earn the national minimum wage and are not entitled to, inter alia, sick pay or holiday pay as are equivalent PAYE workers;

— that family carers provide €4 billion worth of care each year, which is five times the actual cost to the Department of Social Protection;

— that carer's allowance is a direct support for caring duties; and

— the home as the centre of care and the need to protect the household benefits package and free travel pass;acknowledges:— that full-time family carers are expert care partners and as such should be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve;

— carers’ rights to have their own health needs met;

— that transitional arrangements need to be put in place to facilitate long-term carers successfully re-entering the work force;

— the necessity to ring-fence funding for the housing adaptation grant scheme to ease the burden on local authorities who have had to suspend schemes in their areas; and

— the need for a nationwide personal care traineeship scheme using existing labour to be developed as an additional basis for home help support; andcalls on the Government to:— immediately reverse the cut announced in budget 2013 which will reduce the amount of the respite care grant;

— make provisions from within the special delivery unit budget allocation to incorporate carer induction training and needs assessment prior to a patient being discharged;

— eliminate the current backlog of carer's allowance applications by early 2013;

— provide free general practitioner care to full-time family carers;

— conduct a detailed review of the income supports available to family carers and engage agencies such as the Carers Association to provide their expert opinion;

— establish a working group to properly identify the needs of carers, including any unmet needs, to gather information about policies, practices and services that affect carers and to set out an integrated strategy for future action;

— establish a statutory entitlement for family carers and people in care to avail of care supports provided by community based services;

— pay carers such statutory entitlements as the national minimum wage, sick pay and holiday pay; and

— ensure that the relevant Departments draw up and put in place a programme of work to promote the adoption of good practice in carer-friendly employment.”

Based on figures from the 2011 census over 187,000 people in the country identify themselves as carers, with 21% of family carers providing over 43 hours of care per week. When it comes to official Government policy, they are viewed not as a resource but instead as a cost and treated as little more than a modern-day slaves. While the Government sits and halves our envelope allowance and gallantly protects senior civil servant and ministerial pensions of over €100,000 a year, some of these people are receiving the equivalent of one cent per hour from the State for the care being provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Carers are the only full-time social welfare recipients in the country who work for their payments. I imagine they are the only workers in the country who are openly employed in direct contravention to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, which states that the maximum average working week for employees cannot exceed 48 hours.

I know carers, as many would, and these people go around in a permanent state of exhaustion. I was in a house yesterday and the carer in it has a working day starting at 6 a.m. and ending at approximately 1.30 a.m. She does her work seven days a week on her own, looking after a child who has substantial and hourly needs, without earning the national minimum wage, sick pay or holiday pay as per the equivalent PAYE worker. There is no civilised society in the world where this type of modern slave labour should be tolerated. To compound this, the number of people forced onto waiting lists for the carers' allowance has almost trebled since the coalition came to power, with the latest figures indicating that at the start of this month, almost 9,000 people were told to queue for the allowance compared to 7,765 at the start of this year and 3,769 in the weeks before the election in 2011.

The target time for approval is 12 weeks but the current reality is that it can take up to two years, often leaving the carer without any alternative source of income. Almost half of those currently waiting have seen their basic weekly allowance delayed for over six months and yet they will continue in their caring role to their loved one while awaiting a decision. The Government knows it can continue to take advantage of this emotional umbilical cord and this kind of knowing exploitation would not be tolerated in any other profession.

Overall, family carers receive approximately €800 million from the social protection budget and save the health budget approximately €4.5 billion annually. Despite this, the average cut in income support for carers is more than twice the average cut in income support to all other recipients of social protection payments. When we make carers less well-off, we are not just worsening the lives of carers as it will have an impact on the lives of the sick and disabled people being cared for. How can this nation, its Government and we as politicians continue to claim we protect the vulnerable?

Following the budget two weeks ago, many of us spoke to carers outside Leinster House who were not only angry but also very hurt at the savage cut to the respite care grant. They told us that grant is soon eaten up by the costs associated with having a disabled child, for example. This payment was supposed to be in lieu of residential services to relieve those providing round the clock care to loved ones. Many families ended up using it because the State services to look after their loved ones were inadequate, and we have come across this complaint every day of the week. According to carers groups, using the money to fund respite care for a loved one is now at risk of becoming a luxury in itself, as more and more people use the grant simply to cope with their day-to-day financial expenses.

Parents of children with autism are paying out much more money than is coming in from the Government. I know the case of an autistic child in Waterford whose family reckons it will be down approximately €1,500 per year between the cuts to the respite grant, child benefit and the household benefits package. It is a substantial loss for carers. Even if respite care was affordable, it is not always available. At the same time as the respite grant is being cut, the HSE is engaged in drastic cutbacks to direct respite services throughout the country. Reductions in front-line services have already resulted in a €64 reduction in welfare payments to carers, with 23% of carers stating that the overburden of caring has led to their own physical disability. Many doctors throughout the country can confirm that. All of this is against a backdrop of housing adaptation grants almost being suspended, with increases in the costs of care in the home pushing many carers over the edge.

I have come to the conclusion that it is far easier to get €800 from the State for nursing home care than it is to get €100 for a carer in the home. I am increasingly coming in contact with families left with no choice but to place a loved one in residential care prematurely, when home help, day care or respite services are withdrawn, reduced or not provided at all. The Government needs to clarify home care entitlements without delay, similar to the way it has done for the statutory provision of fair deal. Carers ask for this continuously.

The high level care being routinely administered in so many homes brings substantial additional pressures on the household budget with increased energy and fuel cost, often requiring the transfer of patients across care settings, which adds to transport costs. There are other costs on top that again, such as the kind that come with having a profoundly autistic child; this can include the cost of cleaning walls; repairing or replacing household goods that have been smashed; and regular visits to the doctor for illness or injuries, self-inflicted or otherwise. Cutting the household package is a poor reflection of the Government's appreciation of the role of family carers.

The absence within the Government of any knowledge of the real cost of disability to inform budget decisions means families of people with disabilities are feeling increasingly alienated. One carer told me, "You cannot imagine it, you cannot understand it and you do not get it if you have not done it". I will speak more about that carer tomorrow night. Not only does the Government need to recognise the contribution of carers, but it should also realise the knowledge they hold about their profession.

Carers must be embraced as equal partners in the provision of care at every level of public sector planning and service delivery, from designing a service to individual care planning. This is not currently the case. Carer induction training would significantly improve the plight of a family expected to cope with the challenge of caring at home for a loved one who has a stroke or experiences other severe problems.

Repeated studies have highlighted high levels of depression, stress and anxiety among the nation's carers, a significant percentage of whom are aged more than 70 years. Legislation providing for the phased introduction of free general practitioner, GP, care is due before the Oireachtas shortly, with the first phase providing for the extension of these services to persons with illnesses or disabilities, as promised in budget 2012. There is an onus on the Government to include full-time carers in the next phase of the roll-out of free general practitioner services.

I would say much more on this issue if I had time. I will conclude, however, by making an observation. Carers are human beings who need to be cherished and cared for by the State. No one else is in a position to do this. Carers are probably the most highly thought of group in the country and they are the most heroic workers in any service. I ask the Minister of State to consider carefully this pragmatic motion which is not in any sense controversial. We do not propose measures that would result in all hell breaking lose in terms of the budget figures. I ask the Minister of State to read the motion and show compassion and I urge the Government to move beyond political expediency and examine it on its merits.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I am very conscious of the thousands of people who are in need of or receiving care for reasons of age or because they have a physical or mental disability or both. I am also conscious of the thousands of people, the majority of whom are family members, who are providing this care. If all of these carers informed the Health Service Executive and Department of Social Protection that they were no longer willing to care for their loved ones, what would be the effect on the State? I do not believe it would be able to cope with such a scenario as both need and the costs to the State would increase massively. Furthermore, the State could not provide the type of dignified care that is given to those who need it. Such an eventuality would probably result in a return to the old Dickensian type of institution whose end we seek to achieve. Hospitals, which are already under strain, would be severely challenged. From a practical and purely economic point of view, carers are doing the State a major service and I dread to think of the costs and consequences if they decided they would no longer do so.

I acknowledge the first point Deputy John Halligan makes in his motion, namely, that carers make a vital contribution to society and generate major cost savings. The Deputy is doing the State, carers and those receiving care a great service by keeping the issue of care on the agenda. While the budget maintained the basic carer's allowance at its current level, the respite care grant was cut. In many cases, this grant is used not for respite but for basic care.

A close friend of mine has been battling motor neurone disease for five years. I am aware of the level of care provided by the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and local authority. I am also aware of the 24 hour care my friend receives from a family member, for which no amount of money could pay. A carer who is a family member will do much more than other people will do. Let us consider the three potential costs arising from this case. One has 24 hour nursing care, the cost of keeping someone in a nursing home and the cost of the care provided by a family member. It is clear that the latter is not only the most economical approach but is also the type of care that addresses the needs of the person with motor neurone disease who wishes to stay at home. The person to whom I refer availed of the grant scheme, which has had a positive effect in terms of adapting her house. For this reason, I also support that part of the motion.

I am aware of the case of a constituent, an amputee, who lives in a three bedroom local authority house and has been waiting for two and a half years for a grant for a downstairs extension to install a bedroom and shower. As her home is on three storeys, the installation of a stair lift is not feasible. Another constituent has been refused a carer's allowance to look after a 96 year old who wishes to stay at home. One must bear in mind what would be the outcome if the person in question were to move into a nursing home.

Investing in carers is an investment in community care and helps our communities by providing dignified and independent living and contributing to social inclusion. Demand for carers is increasing because people are living longer, including children with birth defects and those with illnesses who are benefiting from medical innovation. This trend will result in an increased need for carers.

The Irish Hospice Foundation and Alzheimer Society of Ireland released a report last Friday. While its primary focus was on palliative care, it also addressed the increasing numbers of people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

The cut in the respite care grant will save the Government €26 million, yet €55 million was found for the greyhound and horse racing industries, both of which are lucrative.

In my short time as a Member of the House, I have felt deeply ashamed on a number of occasions. One such occasion was last summer when it emerged that children with intellectual disabilities would no longer receive services when they reached the age of 18 years. Another such occasion was when I joined people in wheelchairs at an all night protest against the decision to cut their personal assistants' hours. I was also ashamed to read recently about abuse of elderly people in residential care. I hope the Government will publish the standards and new system of inspections for the private and voluntary intellectual disability services sooner rather than later. I urge it to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as this would reaffirm the rights of people with disabilities to be treated as equals. Allied to this issue is care of carers.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I congratulate Deputy John Halligan on tabling the motion, which keeps the issue of carers and those for whom they care on the agenda. Yesterday, while preparing for this debate, I was struck by a report which highlighted the two very different worlds the Government has allowed to develop in this country. According to this report, sales of Prada handbags in a well-known Dublin store increased by 100% in the past year. This means people in this city can afford to pay €900 for a handbag. Sales of Chanel products in the same shop are going through the roof, Hermès products are performing strongly and sales of Céline handbags are on fire. The lowest price for a Hermès bag is €6,500. The famous Grace Kelly style is a popular seller and orders have been taken for crocodile bags costing between €35,000 and €42,000 because the shop in question has run out of these items. These brands are not being bought by lone parents, carers or low income mothers whose child benefit has been cut. I am speaking on behalf of thousands of people who must have their means and supports protected.

As Deputies are aware, 187,000 families provide an essential service to the State free of charge. It is estimated it would cost the State €4 billion per annum to provide this service. The cut in the respite care grant is mean and unnecessary. The Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, revealed yesterday that the budget for the Irish Presidency of the European Union will be €70 million. If the Government were to follow the example set by the Danish Government, it would cap the budget at €35 million, thereby achieving savings that would cover the cost of the cut in the respite care grant and leave €10 million for other purposes.

The cut in the respite care grant does not make economic sense. If only 280 families were to decide - perfectly understandably - that they could not take any more and ceased providing care to their family members, the cost to the State of providing institutional care for their loved ones would be between €600 and €1,000 per day. This would eliminate in one stroke the savings of €25 million the cut in the grant will purportedly achieve. Given that the respite care grant is the only payment given to 20,000 full-time carers, a cut of 20% is not modest, as the Minister for Communications, Energy and Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, claims.

The Government is continuing the policy of the Fianna Fáil Party. Since the budget of 2009, carers' incomes have declined by up to €64 per month. Cutbacks in State services have affected 82% of carers and 9,000 carers are on the waiting list for carer's allowance. This is three times more than when this Government, which claims repeatedly that it is protecting the vulnerable, took office. Half of applicants for the allowance wait for more than six months for their application to be processed and appeals take up to two years. The Government should accede to a call made by the Carers Association to introduce a form of amnesty under which applicants would be paid now and subject to a bureaucratic means test later.

I also fully support the call from the Carers Association for the publication of the national carers strategy, which was drawn up by the previous Government after widespread consultation. The Fine Gael-Labour programme for Government commits to providing for the strategy and to implementing the necessary measures, for example, income supports, recognition by the health professions, training, access to the labour market, transport and housing.

The Government has much to answer for. It cannot keep pointing the finger at Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil started this, but the Government is continuing it. It should stop it.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak on this important motion on the vital contribution carers make to the social and economic life of the nation. Some people are under the impression that the debate on carers, the disabled, senior citizens and the cut to the respite care grant is over. It is not. I will continue to fight and fight until carers get justice and equality. The respite care grant cut was a national disgrace. Any Deputy who supported it should hang his or her head in shame. It was wrong, wrong, wrong, and no weasel words will change my mind. To take money from those families was mean and a grave injustice. If we lived in a real democratic and inclusive republic, this cut would not have been made. Many Independent Deputies made other funding proposals, including some made tonight.

It was disgraceful and eternally shameful of the Labour Party and Members like Deputies Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Seán Kenny to support this cut-----

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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Well chosen.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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-----as well as the €10 cut to child benefit. Other promises to the people of the north side of Dublin were broken. Those Deputies had the brass neck to claim they prevented cuts to education and health. Tell that to those in receipt of services for the disabled, funding for which was cut by 3% last week, or to the 350 profoundly deaf children on the waiting list for life-changing implants. The €11 million cut to post-leaving certificate courses hit the most disadvantaged. Deputies should stop spinning the truth and own up to their cuts and false promises. It is gombeen politics at its worst.

Today, the Government spent €244,741 on a website for the EU Presidency. Including other expenses, the total was in the region of €330,194.71. This would be enough to restore the full respite care grant to more than 1,000 people. Do not talk about a lack of funds when such amounts are being wasted. Most Deputies know that one could get a website for between €3,000 and €4,000. It is time for the Government to get real.

The cut of 3% to front-line services for the disabled will have a devastating effect in 2013. It is the untold story of the budget. On the ground, services at St. Michael's House will lose €5 million in 2013. The Government should not lecture us about protecting the vulnerable. It has turned its back on the vulnerable. Even the IMF has asked it to ease off in the past 24 hours. This is the reality on the ground and is the subject matter of the motion. The Technical Group Members, from all political backgrounds, have united in this motion to stand with the country's carers.

Last week saw the scandal of a Labour Member - I believe it was Deputy Nolan - telling his parliamentary party meeting that the only people who cared about the carers in Galway were the carers themselves. That was an appalling statement for a Member of any party to make in the broader debate. It is important that these matters be made public. The Government has let carers down.

In this motion, the Technical Group acknowledges the fact that full-time family carers are expert care partners and, as such, should be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. Carers have the right to have their own health needs met. We call on the Government to reverse immediately the cut to the respite care grant that was announced in budget 2013. We ask that provision be made "from within the special delivery unit budget allocation to incorporate carer induction training and needs assessment prior to a patient being discharged". We also ask that the backlog in carer's allowance applications be eliminated by early 2013. I urge all Deputies to support carers, the disabled, senior citizens and, above all, this motion.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Halligan for tabling this Private Member's motion. I will focus on the respite care grant. In most cases, it is wrong to represent it as being used for frivolous reasons. Often, this grant as well as domiciliary care payments are used exclusively to fill gaps in services that should be available, yet are not. Many services are organised around institutions instead of around the person requiring care. One needs to know the system to get the services that are required.

There are vast differences in what might be available. For example, elder care services provided in west Dublin and north Kildare cannot be compared. I will use a recent instance as an example. Someone who was confined to bed needed a pressure mattress. It was provided in west Dublin. In north Kildare, however, the person was told to source it himself or herself. Often, geography determines the services one receives. The way they are delivered causes additional problems for carers. They must become advocates for and organisers of the other person's needs.

Getting an old or sick person admitted to hospital has become a new battleground. I dealt with a case of a 90 year old man who suffered post-operative complications. Getting an ambulance for him took several weeks and presented an even greater issue than finding him a hospital bed. There is something wrong about that. His doctor spent three weeks trying to get him to the hospital. The HSE has told me that transport may only be provided when, in the clinician's view, the patient would be unable to make the journey without clinical assistance or where the patient must be transported by stretcher. This will cause serious problems for the elderly in particular.

I echo Deputy Joan Collins's points on the delays in processing carers' claims. They take a ridiculous length of time. Often, people must decide that they cannot care for their elderly relatives at home. The Carers Association is seeking a general practitioner, GP, card for carers. If someone qualifies for a carer's allowance, that card should be supplied. It makes good economic and health care sense, as one third of all carers become ill. Keeping them well is in the country's interests.

I will turn to the issue of housing adaptation grants, which are administered by local authorities. Their provision depends on each authority's ability to find matching funds. How the local government fund, LGF, has been dispensed in recent years has been deeply unfair and will not improve, given how the property tax has been described. It is ironic that many counties that fall into so-called poor areas often have more discretionary funding. The qualifying criterion for the housing adaptation grant is the amount of funding an authority can provide to match the amount drawn down from the Department. The needs and resources model is used. It is based on an assessment conducted in or around 2000. What one has, one holds. Counties with populations that have grown in recent years are at a considerable disadvantage.

I wish to address an area in which families' caring needs will increase, namely, where adult services have been withdrawn from young people who have finished their schooling. Recently, I was contacted by someone whose son is autistic and non-verbal. He was told he would be put on the list, but no service was guaranteed. In fact, respite services were going to be removed and day services were to be reduced because they had reached the point at which residential services could only be provided for residential placements.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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The Deputy should conclude.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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I will. This development will create new caring needs.

It makes no sense at all. The State must either provide direct support to carers to allow them to provide the necessary care or provide the services itself. As it stands, there is no adequate provision for either option.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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I expect that some Government backbenchers, those in the Labour Party in particular, are hopeful that the deed was done last week in regard to the Social Welfare Bill. They took some flak regarding the Government's attacks on carers and the Labour Party ended up with one man overboard, but ultimately they probably feel they emerged relatively unscathed. The purpose of the motion before us tonight is to remind Members opposite that the issue is not resolved and we will not let it be forgotten. We will not forget the insult given by the hypocrisy of the likes of the Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, who went on the airwaves to say it was a choice between cutting the respite care grant and cutting the core carer's allowance payment. He tried to give the impression that Labour Party Members, after tossing and turning and grappling with their conscience, came down on the side, much against their wishes, of cutting the respite care grant. That is a complete and utter lie. Everybody knows this was not the only choice in town.

Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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Deputy Daly has accused Labour Party Members of lying.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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I will stand over it any time. The Government could have targeted the wealthy-----

Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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On a point of order, Chair, the Deputy has accused my party of lying and has indicated she will stand over that claim.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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The Chair will deal with that. Deputy McCarthy should resume his seat.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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I will explain it to Deputy McCarthy if he does not understand.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Will Deputy Daly withdraw the word "lie"?

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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I am being asked to withdraw the word "lie" in reference to the claim that the choice was between a cut in the respite care grant and a cut in the carer's allowance. That is a lie. Those were not the only available choices. In fact, the choice was between targeting the wealthy, the corporations and the perks-----

Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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The Deputy has not withdrawn the word "lie".

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Deputy Daly must withdraw the word "lie".

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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The comment was untruthful.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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This Government chose not to tackle the wealthy, the corporations or their own perks. The notion that we should be grateful that core payments were not tackled is a disgrace and an insult. The respite care grant is the core payment to 20,000 families in this State and it has been attacked. As a consequence of the cut, their core income will have to be stretched to bear the cost of additional ESB charges arising from the cut in the units allowance, extra telephone charges and increased bus fares, general inflation and so on. The army of workers - that is exactly what they are - who care for loved ones 24 hours per day and 365 days per year in homes and communities will not let this issue go. They cannot afford to do so and they have nowhere else to go.

The Government has made a very serious mistake on this issue. We have all met the people protesting outside these gates, people who are under acute and intense pressure. I never encountered so many individuals involved in a single protest who were what I would describe as on the edge. I do not for a moment doubt the surveys which reveal that 38% of carers are completely overwhelmed by the lives they lead and the circumstances they are forced to endure, circumstances which have had a massive impact on their health. Many of the carers to whom we spoke last week asked us to swap places and live their life for one or two days, without any relief from their caring duties. I do not have time to relate the stories I heard. The illusion that carers are some type of modern day Florence Nightingales who work for the love of their family members and the politicians are the great ones who give them a few bob - and are they not lucky to be getting it? - is getting the thing entirely the wrong way around.

Deputy John Halligan is correct when he says this is modern day slavery. It is a crime that we are saving a fortune through the unpaid labour of hundreds of thousands of citizens in this State. The sweat off their backs is directly benefiting this State. What it comes down to is that carers are workers and should be treated as such. People have given up a lifetime of work because their loved one became ill and are now living the life of a pauper. They are entitled to proper wages and conditions. After all, it is an undeniable fact that the State benefits to the tune of €4 billion from their work. The Government has got it the wrong way around when it comes to care in the community. In addition to the cut in the respite care grant, home help hours which offer carers some relief for a couple of hours a day have been reduced. The Government is making carers ill and placing a huge drain on the economy. Carers are not vulnerable and weak; they are workers who are entitled to be paid accordingly. If we did that, we might appreciate them a little more.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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For most people, two measures in particular stand out from the recent budget, namely, the cut in the respite care grant and in child benefit. I was surprised by the Government's decision to proceed with these cuts, despite all the rumours in the media prior to the budget announcement. It seems clear to me that they were a bad idea both for those at the mercy of the cuts and from the perspective of the Government itself. If one actually wanted to increase child poverty in this country, one of the most proactive steps to take would be to reduce child benefit. It is a measure guaranteed to yield results, and an increase in child poverty is exactly what will happen as a consequence of the measure introduced in the budget.

Most people find it difficult to comprehend how the reduction in the respite care grant can be worth the saving of €26 million it will yield. It defies logic that the Government would go down this route. There has been endless talk from Members opposite since I came into this House about the importance of primary care. It is certainly the right way to go, particularly the philosophy of keeping people in their homes. This particular measure, however, flies in the face of that philosophy. Before becoming a Member of this House, I had not met many people working as carers in the home. Since then, I have been struck by how incredibly difficult a job it is. It is, moreover, a job which is vastly underrated and unappreciated by people in general, including by me before I met some of these individuals in person.

Apart from making their job more difficult, the cut in the respite care grant is an insult to carers because it detracts from the value of what they do. We should be taking the absolutely opposite approach. I would not like to have to endure the working conditions that are a feature of life for so many carers, irrespective of what I received for doing so. Instead of subjecting them to more hardship, we must give credit to those who sacrifice so many aspects of their life to undertake this role. I was taken aback by the evident hurt of the people I met outside Leinster House last week. It is not merely that their lives will be made even more difficult by this loss of income, but there is great hurt at the conviction that they are not appreciated for the work they do.

There were alternatives available to the Government in this budget. We are told that the corporation tax rate is sacrosanct and an increase would lead to a diversion of foreign direct investment. We are told that the tax relief on large pension funds must remain unchanged lest investment moves out of this country. It is not a good idea, we are warned, to impose a higher tax rate on incomes above €100,000 because this would have a negative impact on jobs and investment in the long term. Yet it is okay to reduce supports for carers and children. There is a lack of logic there. Poor households will have poor children. Do we have a responsibility to ensure children do not go hungry, that they have proper shoes and do not have to sleep in damp bedrooms? Do we in this House have a responsibility when we have made conditions so difficult for households that such deprivations are bound to arise?

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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I thank Deputy John Halligan for bringing forward this excellent motion and my colleagues for sharing speaking time. The motion is deserving of support.

Like other politicians, I deal each day with people who are providing excellent care for people in their homes. Nobody should underestimate the value of this work. I was grateful in recent weeks to attend a briefing session in Tralee by carers who are providing care for people in their homes. On that day I heard at first hand, as I have outside this House, at my clinics and at constituency meetings, the cases of people who are going through a great deal to provide care. They are not looking for anything special for doing that. They are doing this work and wish to take care of people in their homes. However, they want basic recognition for that and to be treated properly by the State. They do not wish to be treated the way they are at present.

Members on the other side of the House should know that people who are providing care for people in their homes are being paid for probably only half of their work. If they are taking care of somebody who is in a wheelchair and have only 40 minutes to do so, they will not be able to deal with the person's personal needs in that amount of time. If they stay for an hour or an hour and 20 minutes, they will not say anything about it, just do the work and only get paid for half of it. They are working for nothing for at least half of their time.

I cannot understand how Members on the other side of the House will vote against this motion. The motion tabled by Deputy Halligan states: "That Dáil Éireann recognises ... the vital contribution carers make to the economic and social life of the nation, and further acknowledges this by providing them with adequate income supports". How in the name of God could anybody vote against that at any time? It is inhuman to do so. If Members intend to vote against it, they should explain that vote to their constituencies and explain how they think it is right to vote against this excellent motion.

I thank the Technical Group for sharing time with me.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:

“notes that: — carers make a vital contribution to the economic and social life of the nation;

— the income supports which are available to carers from the State are among the highest rates of income support in Europe;

— the income disregard and means test for carer’s allowance is the most generous in the social welfare system;

— a person getting certain qualifying payments and also providing full-time care and attention to another person can keep their main social welfare payment and get a half rate carer’s allowance as well and that these rates were fully protected in budget 2013;

— carers also receive a free travel pass at an annual cost of €6 million and carers who reside with the care recipient are eligible for the household benefits package at an annual cost of approximately €30 million;

— carers are entitled to an extra half-rate carer’s allowance if they care for more than one person and a respite care grant for each care recipient;

— the respite care grant is available to all full-time carers regardless of their means;

— the Government had to make very difficult decisions in the course of budget 2013 in order to protect core weekly payments which people receive such as pensions,disability, jobseeker’s and carer’s allowances;

— the revised rate of the respite care grant of €1,375 will still be more than what it was in 2006 at the height of the economic boom when the rate was €1,200 and more than twice what it was in 2002 when it was set at €635; and

— the estimated expenditure on carers in 2012 is over €771 million: €509 million on carer’s allowance, €24 million on carer’s benefit, €135 million on the respite care grant and €103 million on domiciliary care allowance and that this represents an increase of almost €20 million on expenditure in 2011;welcomes: — the publication of the National Carers’ Strategy in 2012 which, for the first time at national level, recognises the value and contribution of carers to society;

— the roadmap for implementation in the strategy and the commitment to progress these elements of the strategy within the limits of existing resource constraints; and

— the Government’s plans to reform the current public health care system by introducing universal health Insurance with equal access to care for all and to introduce, on a phased basis, general practitioner, GP, care without fees for the entire population within its first term of office; andacknowledges that: — additional funding has been provided to meet the needs of the people receiving GP care and prescription drugs under the general medical services scheme, which now stands in excess of 1.8 million medical cards, representing an increase of 24% since the start of 2010;

— approximately 97% of persons over 70 years of age are provided with free GP and hospital services, as well as subsidised prescription drugs subject to a capped fee per item;

— stable public finances are an essential prerequisite to long-term economic growth and job creation;

— the State will only be able to access the markets successfully in the long-term if the markets believe we have a credible fiscal strategy and agree that our debt is sustainable;

— this Government continues to face a daunting challenge in repairing the economy and the public finances and that difficult decisions are still required; and

— the Government has shown in budget 2013 that it is committed to meeting that challenge, and is determined that through good governance it will lead Ireland back to independent funding and sustainable growth in living standards and in employment.”

I now turn to the motion before the House. The Minister for Social Protection has provided considerable and consistent support for carers. Although carers can sometimes feel that their work goes unnoticed by the State, their communities or even their families, the important and valuable role played by carers in society has been increasingly recognised both at EU level and in Ireland in recent years. The national carers' strategy was part of that acknowledgement. Caring for another person can have a huge impact on carers and their families and this is particularly true when that care is provided on a full-time basis. Becoming a carer can be a very rewarding experience but it often means that people make huge sacrifices particularly as regards employment opportunities, and sometimes these sacrifices are made at the expense of the carer's own health.

As Deputies will be aware, the development and publication of a national carers' strategy was a key social policy commitment in the programme for Government. The strategy, which was published in July, sets the strategic direction for future policies, services and supports provided by Government Departments and agencies for carers. The Government believes that a formal recognition and acknowledgement of the value and contribution of carers is deserved. In that context, both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste launched the strategy with me. We know that there are positive and rewarding aspects of caring and many carers will say that this care is a normal part of being a family member and a responsibility that comes with being a parent, relative or friend. However, we also know that some carers are providing a significant level of care on an ongoing basis that is intensive and physically and emotionally draining. There are many reasons that carers do what they do, despite the personal sacrifices that have to be made to be able to continue providing this care. Whatever the reasons and motivations, which are often quite personal and emotional, we know that many carers feel invisible and that their contributions are unrecognised.

Our current budgetary challenges did not preclude the publication of a strategy, as a sign of the value that the Government places on carers and their contributions to loved ones on a daily basis.

It is worth considering who we mean when we talk about carers. There are a variety of definitions of "carer". Current definitions in Ireland stretch from that used in the census, which records people who "provide regular unpaid personal help for a friend or family member with a long-term illness, health problem or disability", of which there were 187,030 according to Census 2011, to that used for the purposes of qualifying for a social welfare payment, which states that the carer must be "providing full-time care and attention to a person in need of such care". There are approximately 53,000 full-time carers receiving carer's allowance.

Whatever we call them, and however we define them, one thing we all share is that, at some stage in our lives, almost all of us will provide care for another person or receive care. Each Member will have some family member involved in caring. The issues surrounding carers and family care are relevant to every one of us and are socially and economically crucial to Ireland as a nation. When someone becomes a carer, their circumstances can change dramatically - often suddenly - and they can find it difficult to cope financially. Often, the person in need of care was the main wage earner in the family. The carer may be elderly and rely on a pension or other State benefit. Becoming a carer can have implications for all aspects of a person's life from taxation to transport, social welfare payments and accessing health services. Reflecting this, services and supports for carers are delivered by a variety of Departments and bodies.

The income supports carers receive from the Department of Social Protection are among the highest rates in Europe. Carer's allowance is the main social assistance payment which provides income support to people who are providing certain older people or people with a disability with full time care and attention and whose incomes fall below a certain limit. Persons in receipt of carer's allowance also receive the annual respite care grant, the household benefits package and the free travel pass. The carer's allowance weekly payment was not affected by the budget.

Carer's benefit is a payment for people who have made social insurance contributions and who have recently left the workforce and are looking after somebody in need of full-time care and attention. Recipients can get carer's benefit for up to two years for each person being cared for. There are approximately 1,500 in receipt of carer's benefit. The carer's benefit weekly payment was not affected by the budget. For a child under 16 years requiring full-time care, a domiciliary care allowance of €309.50 per month may be paid to the parent or guardian. The payment is not means tested and is to provide for the additional costs involved in providing care and supervision that is substantially more than that normally needed by a child of the same age. The parents may also be in receipt of the carer's allowance. The domiciliary care allowance has not been affected by the budget.

In the majority of cases, persons who are being cared for are in receipt of a payment in their own right, such as a State pension or disability allowance, and entitled to a free travel pass. This includes anyone aged over 16 years who qualifies for disability allowance. In the case of a disabled child, they may also be receiving the domiciliary care allowance. The disability allowance has not been affected by the budget. People in receipt of a social welfare payment, other than carer's allowance or benefit, who are also providing someone with full-time care and attention, can retain their main welfare payment and receive a half-rate carer's allowance. Similarly, people currently in receipt of a carer's allowance, who may have an underlying eligibility for another social welfare payment, can transfer to that other payment and continue to receive up to a half rate carer's allowance. The half rate carer's allowance has not been affected by the budget.

The income disregard and means test for carer's allowance is the most generous in the social welfare system. A couple under 66 with two children, earning a joint annual income of up to €35,400 can qualify for the maximum rate of carer's allowance and such a couple earning €59,300 will still qualify for the minimum rate. Carers are entitled to an extra half rate carer's allowance if they care for more than one person and a respite care grant for each care recipient. These provisions have not been affected by the budget.

Most of the focus of the discussion in recent days has been on the respite care grant. We must remember that carers receive considerable supports. Only 5,000 carers receive only the respite care grant, which is not a means tested payment. The Government had to make very difficult decisions in the course of budget 2013 to protect core weekly payments such as pensions, disability and carer's allowance. We had to look very carefully at other additional payments such as the respite care grant. Let us take, as an example, a single parent with a disabled child in receipt of a half rate carer's allowance. They receive €319.80 per week in income support payments, including the one parent family payment of €188.00 and an increase of €29.80 for the child and the half rate carer's allowance, €102. From October to April each year, they may also receive the fuel allowance of €20 per week, which was not affected by the budget. They may also receive a €309.50 per month domiciliary care allowance for the child and are entitled to the respite care grant, a free travel pass and a household benefits package. The total annual value of all income supports in this case in 2012 is €23,606. I do not like such examples and other Members could find other examples.

The revised rate of the respite care grant, €1,375, is more than twice what it was in 2002, €635, and higher than it was in 2006 at the height of the economic boom, €1,200. The estimated expenditure on carers in the Department of Social Protection in 2012 is over €771 million, with €509 million on carer's allowance, €24 million on carer's benefit, €135 million on the respite care grant and €103 million on domiciliary care allowance. This represents an increase of almost €20 million on expenditure in 2011.

Carers also receive a free travel pass at an annual cost of €6 million and carers who reside with the care recipient are eligible for the household benefits package at an annual cost of approximately €30 million. The Government is committed to ensuring that, in addition to the necessary income supports, carers receive a comprehensive range of services to assist in the caring role.

Caring for a relative who has a disability, who is frail or who is chronically or terminally ill not only requires a wide range of skills, it also requires patience and an ability to empathise at times when they may be feeling vulnerable, stressed and frustrated. The role of carer, while it may be very rewarding, can be a 24 hour a day, seven day a week role and caring can extract a great emotional, physical or financial cost from the person providing care.

I refer to the services provided by the Department of Health and the Health Services Executive. Protecting the vulnerable, including supporting people to remain at home and in their communities for as long as possible, is a priority for the Government. Maximising health service community-based supports remains to the fore of the Government's health service agenda. This must be balanced against addressing evolving service and resource pressures and the challenges facing the HSE in drawing up its service plan for 2013. The challenge should not be underestimated. The overall provision of home support services is regularly reviewed at national and local levels, in the context of client need and resource availability. Notwithstanding the recently announced reductions for HSE home support provision over the later part of 2012, investment in these services remains significant, with expenditure of about €320 million expected for home help and home care packages this year. Details on home care provision for 2013 are being considered at present in the context of finalising the HSE service plan, which is due be published in the near future. However, the Government has committed to restore the core community services of home help, home care packages and personal assistant hours to 2012 levels of service.

Persons with medical cards are entitled to a full range of services without charge, including general practitioner services, all inpatient public hospital services in public wards including consultant services, all outpatient public hospital services, including dental, ophthalmic and aural services and appliances, and a maternity and infant care service. They are also provided with prescribed drugs and medicines, subject to capped co-payment. Eligibility for medical cards is generally determined by reference to the means of the individual or family and a medical card is awarded where income is below a certain level.

The Government is committed to major reforms of the manner in which health services are delivered. The programme for Government commits to reforming the current public health system by introducing universal health insurance with equal access to care for all. As part of this, the Government is committed to introducing, on a phased basis, GP care without fees within its first term of office. In honouring this commitment, legislation to allow the Minister for Health to make regulations to extend this access to persons with prescribed illnesses is currently being drafted by the Department of Health and the Office of the Attorney General and will be published shortly. Implementation dates and application details will be announced in due course.

Carers were identified as a priority theme under the economic and social disadvantage category in the dormant accounts allocation for 2007. The focus of the carers' measure is to provide training to assist carers in undertaking their caring role. The Department of Social Protection has been the lead Department for this measure, as well as carer's payment and the respite grant, and the funding is being channelled through the Department's Vote. Pobal is administering the measure on behalf of the Department and is responsible for the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the programme. Applications were assessed by Pobal and 12 groups were approved for funding in December 2008, totalling €1.48 million. The grants range in size, with more than €500,000 for the Carers Association and almost €250,000 for Caring for Carers, while smaller groups are receiving smaller amounts, such as €38,000 for the Rosses Community Development Project in Donegal and €10,000 for the Ballinrobe Family Resource Centre in Mayo.

I am very conscious of the needs of carers. I also fully understand that a wide range of other groups, such as unemployed people, parents, pensioners and people with disabilities, depend on the welfare budget for vital support. I want to assure the House that the Government, in the context of a very tough budgetary environment, will continue to do its utmost to protect the most vulnerable people in Irish society.

The requirements of the Department of Social Protection highlight how important stable finances are. Over the next five years, the Department of Social Protection will spend over €100 billion. All of this must be raised by taxation or, in the short term, by borrowing. Obviously, any borrowing will have to be repaid by the taxpayer at some time in the future. It is clear that if the Government did not ensure we had a sustainable financial situation, the Department of Social Protection and its clients, as the largest single Vote, would be the first to suffer. The Government will, of course, make sure we provide this money and this support. It is up to other parties to explain how their policies would maintain the same level of commitment to social welfare clients.

Our public finances are performing well. Based on the latest information, including the November tax receipts, the Department of Finance now projects that the general Government deficit for this year will be 8.2%, well inside the required target of 8.6% under the excessive deficit procedure. In addition, the projected deficits for 2013 to 2015 are 7.5%, 5.1% and 2.9%, respectively, all in line with the targets to be achieved.

Stable public finances are an essential prerequisite of long-term economic growth and job creation. We will only be able to successfully access the markets in the long term if the markets believe we have a credible fiscal strategy and that we can repay our debts. Confidence is returning to Ireland. Unemployment fell by 3,600 on an annual basis in quarter 3, the first year-on-year fall recorded since 2005. Solid economic indicators such as the manufacturing purchasing managers' index show that Ireland is the only country in the euro area to record an expansion, the ninth consecutive month of expansion. Retail sales have strengthened over recent months. There are many positive signs, including renewed private sector job creation, sustained and significant foreign investment, strong exports and, as I have indicated, restored access to international funding markets. The journey ahead is difficult but we must travel with a sense of purpose.

For many, particularly as we get older, our first choice is to remain living at home in the communities in which we are rooted and with which we are familiar. Government policy is to support people to live in dignity and independence in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. Where appropriate, the health service also supports access to high-quality long-term residential care. I understand that people requiring care face particular challenges in their daily lives and that family carers have to make sacrifices in order to look after their loved ones. I have set out in the foregoing the definite steps the Government has taken to make sure these vulnerable groups are protected to the greatest extent possible. The Government is well aware of and values the contribution of the many carers who do an extraordinary job in our community every day.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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With the agreement of the House, I will share my time with Deputy Robert Troy.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue. Having contributed to the debate on the Social Welfare Bill, I will be repeating myself to an extent, but what I said is worth repeating.

The Technical Group has put down a comprehensive motion, which is worth reflecting on. It outlines and recognises the contribution carers make to society. It goes on to acknowledge their need for support from the State and calls on the Government to act on that in a meaningful way. State support is required in the form of carer's allowance and benefit, home care packages, special needs assistance and grants to adapt homes for people who are disabled to ensure they can live at home with dignity and independence.

The decision to cut the carer's respite grant was an amazing one. It now appears we are targeting people who have been made vulnerable by an intellectual or physical disability. I do not say this lightly. In the areas of health and social welfare, we have seen home help hours cut, the carer's respite grant has been cut and last September we witnessed the unseemly sight of people campaigning outside Government Buildings to retain special needs assistants. The Department of Health is now proposing to cut home care packages.

The Government, in trying to honour its commitments not to increase taxation or cut basic social welfare payments, is attacking vulnerable groups in a very malicious way. I do not use those words lightly, but this seems to be the case.

The respite care grant is a valuable contribution to people who are caring for someone at home, particularly to many people who do not qualify for the carer's or half carer's payment. It gives them some support and recognition of what they do on behalf of the State by caring for people who have physical or intellectual disabilities or are growing old and want to remain at home for as long as possible.

This cut was mean and nasty.

The Minister of State referred in her speech to the budget being difficult. We all knew it would be difficult. Every political party in the Dáil agreed about the broad parameters. Fianna Fáil signed up to the memorandum of understanding and put forward our case before the last general election. We outlined the severity of the budgetary situation. No one needed to be informed of that; the difficulties we had were obvious. In respect of the choices that have been made since then, however, the one choice I was amazed was not made was to increase the universal social charge by a minimum of 3% for those earning more than €100,000, which would have given a lot of headroom to address the difficulties faced by the vulnerable in our society because of the social welfare cuts.

The Minister of State referred to the deficit being 8.2% versus 8.6%. Even without increasing the USC for those earning in excess of €100,000, there was headroom built in because we were beyond our targets for meeting the critical 8.6% deficit target that is set out in the memorandum of understanding with the lenders of last resort. There was plenty of room to protect those in receipt of the respite care grant. For all the broad economic arguments being made about the lenders of last resort dictating terms, this was within our own resources, so it was available to us. The decisions that were made, however, were not made in accordance with the fundamental principle of fairness. Fairness is what is at issue. Can someone tell me how it is fairer not to increase taxes on a person earning more than €100,000 than it is to take €325 from those in receipt of the respite care grant? Most people in the Labour Party and most people in this House privately believe it is deeply unfair, to say the least.

The Minister for Communications and Natural Resources referred to pirouetting on the plinth and people saying they had strong concerns about the attack on the respite care grant and other areas of social welfare such as child benefit, but this was a red line issue for the Labour Party before the election. It is no longer a red line issue and possibly there might be a further rolling back on commitments made prior to the election. Even in the context of the programme for Government, this is clearly a social welfare payment. It is very important to families who are put to the pin of their collar.

The respite care grant, and the other mechanisms such as home help, special needs assistants and home care packages, serve to implement a policy to which all political parties and those in the health care industry subscribe, namely, moving people form acute hospitals into independent home care or at least a community care setting. This will achieve the opposite. It will force families to make a decision about continuing to care for a loved one in the home setting or putting that person into long-term care. That is contrary to all stated policy. The Carers Association reckons that carers save the State €4 billion per year. I am still at a loss as to how this proposal found its way into a budget that was supposed to be based on fairness, equality and the protection of the most vulnerable. Clearly, the Social Welfare Bill has stripped that away.

I said to the Minister for Social Protection on the Social Welfare Bill that she makes great play of her claim that she is trying to protect the most vulnerable and that the Social Welfare Bill had achieved that. Any critical analysis which compares the cuts to the respite care grant and child benefit with the measures affecting those who are earning most clearly shows those who are bent over from working hard and supporting a loved one at home who needs care and attention are being abandoned by the Government. Those on €100,000 have not had their basic income cut any more than anyone else in the country in terms of PRSI contributions and cuts in child benefit. If anyone tells me this budget taxed the rich to give to the poor, he is simply not very good at basic mathematics.

Let us be clear on the pronouncements of alea iacta est, the die is cast, but it is cast for carers by this Government that is clearly saying to those carers that they must cross the Rubicon on their own, they must paddle their own canoe because the Government is more interested in supporting the rich and those who can make it on their own. It gives them the breaks while making this mean, spiteful cut to the respite care grant. It is nothing other than a mean, spiteful cut and I know the Minister of State believes that, as does every Deputy in this House. For some reason of simple arithmetic, the Government looked at the figures and decided to take the €325 off the respite care grant and assumed everything else would be fine. There was an easier way and a fairer way to do this. Unfortunately on this occasion, Fine Gael got its way at Cabinet, the Labour Party surrendered and now the most vulnerable are paying. That is not good enough, and even at this late stage, this reprehensible cut should be reversed to ensure those who need it most get it.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Deputy is attentive.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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The way the Minister of State was speaking, it sounded like the job from heaven that anyone would want to do. They are only getting what they are entitled to.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Yes.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Does the Minister of State realise how much money carers save? The manner in which she portrayed it, it sounded as if they should be thankful for what they are getting but they are only getting what they are entitled to get. The carers in this country save us €4 billion per annum, five times what they cost the Department of Social Protection. The recipients of the carer's allowance are the only people who work for their social welfare payments. They often work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. More than 90% of those in receipt of carer's allowance are family carers, doing it not for the money or the benefits the Minister of State outlined but for the love of that family member.

Those carers feel very let down. They feel their contribution is not being acknowledged by the Government.

In my short time in this House, it is the first time that I witnessed one Minister taking the entire 30 minute Government speaking slot during Private Members' business.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Even the relevant Minister.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thought the Minister of State's fellow Government Members would have been only too delighted to come in and stick up for carers. They are saying one thing in the constituency and doing a different thing when they come into this House.

The carers carried out a survey between 31 October and 3 November. Of the carers who took part 26.7% rated their stress level at 5 on a scale from 1 to 5. They are stressed out of it. Some 45.8% rated their stress level at 4 and 22.5% rated it at 3. Some 75% of them said they were more stressed now than they were 12 months ago. The Government has closed their valve for letting off steam. The respite care grant was a mechanism by which people could avail of a service, a couple of nights a month, once a week, once every fortnight or however it best suited them. It was an opportunity for them to release the pressure and have some time for themselves. The biggest worry for many carers is what will happen to their loved one if the carer falls sick. This is a cruel cut. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, is wrong in calling it a modest cut. It is not at all modest - it is a 20% cut in a grant to carers, who provide invaluable service not alone to their own families but also to the State. They are saving the State in excess of €4 billion per annum. This comes on the back of savage cuts to home-help hours.

Alternatives have been proposed by people on this side of the House, but the Government did not want to accept those alternatives. They were costed by the Department and through parliamentary questions, but the Government did not want to accept them and instead took its own political choice which was to cut the respite care grant.

I listened to the deliberations of the Minister, Deputy Burton, in the Seanad earlier today. She said she would publish a report on the future of child benefit at the end of January. She was saying that to appease some Labour Senators who are getting wobbly at this stage. Why does she not publish these reports before the decisions are taken? Why do we not change the way things are done in this House? Why do we not all consider how we can achieve better savings in the various Departments, not after the horse has bolted but before the die is cast?

Having spoken to a number of officials and retired officials from the Department of Social Protection, last week I made suggestions to the Minister, Deputy Burton, for reducing the amount of fraud. Nobody can stand over somebody knowingly making fraudulent claims. However, the Minister did not seem to comprehend that is another alternative. I do not know how anybody in their right mind or anybody who is interested in fairness and equality could vote against this motion tomorrow evening. I compliment the Technical Group on tabling it and giving us an opportunity to speak on the matter in the House again.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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On my behalf and on behalf of Sinn Féin I fully support the motion in the name of the Deputies in the Technical Group. The motion recognises the absolutely critical contribution of carers in our society and it calls for the reversal of one of the cruellest cuts in budget 2013, the cut to carer's respite grant.

I ask all Ministers and all Government Deputies who were in the last Dáil to go back over the Dáil record and find the many occasions on which most of them spoke in opposition Private Members' time in support of carers - there are a number of examples. They should then try to square their fine words in opposition with their deeds in government. There were choices for Fine Gael and Labour Ministers to make. They pretend that their hands were tied and, in the case of the Labour Ministers in particular, they claim that this left them with no choice but to impose cuts such as the cut to the respite care grant, in breach of their pre-election commitments. I believe that is a false claim.

In our alternative budget and our jobs plan, Sinn Féin presented proposals designed to protect the vulnerable, to tax fairly those best able to afford tax increases and to stimulate the economy to encourage growth and employment. We were not the only ones to do so, but all have been dismissed by this coalition which takes its cue not from the Irish people but from the troika. We identified more than €1 billion that could be raised from wealth taxes and €365 million from a new higher rate for those on incomes of more than €100,000 per annum. If even a fraction of those measures had been introduced, the coalition would have recouped many times the so-called savings made by cutting the respite care grant.

The Carers Association has pointed out that the average cut in income support for carers is 5% in budget 2013 and that is more than twice the average cut in income support to all other recipients of social protection payments, which is 1.8%. The Carers Association is also correct in stating that the respite care grant is a core payment for family carers and is used to buy in-home and residential respite as well as meet the everyday additional costs of caring in the home. This is of course contrary to Government claims that it has protected core social protection payments.

The coalition has claimed that "carers will remain one of the few areas where the Department continues to make double payments in recognition of the valuable work that carers do". However, again the Carers Association points out that family carers who receive this so-called double payment, at a total cost of €100 million, provide care which would, were it to be provided by the HSE, cost the Exchequer €1.5 billion. Carers work for their payment, often 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is estimated that overall, family carers receive approximately €800 million from the social protection budget and save the health budget more than €4 billion.

I again appeal to the Government to reverse this cruellest of cuts in its budget 2013. If it fails to do so we will know for certain that its words in praise of carers are nothing more than patronising waffle and plámás from a Government that preaches compassion but practices punishment of the most vulnerable. On this issue at least, I urge Government to do the right thing or else stop pretending to care for carers.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Is there someone else following on, as there is one minute left in the Sinn Féin slot?

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I am happy to fill the minute if that is what you want me to do, a Cheann Comhairle.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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You have a minute.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I will take it if the Deputy wants.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I will certainly reiterate my appeal to the Minister of State. This is one of those glaring obscenities in budget 2013 of which there are many. I am very conscious of the extent of the discomfort this has caused for backbench Deputies in both Fine Gael and Labour - it is not unique to Labour in this instance. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, to use her special position in Government to insist that this particular obscenity is removed from the text of budget 2013. It is the very least that should be done in recognition of the special role carers play in our society and the absolutely essential purpose they serve in the service of those who are unable to help themselves.