Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 3, before section 2, to insert the following new section:

"2.—The Minister shall as soon as may be after the passing of this Act prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the implications of extending qualification for Carer's Allowance to any person who provides care to such an extent that the care recipient would require nursing home care or significant professional assistance if they were not receiving assistance from the person.".

There is a need to relax the qualifying criteria for carer's allowance in the case of the onus to provide full-time care and attention so that carers satisfy this condition if, in the judgment of the deciding officer, the carer's work saves that person from being cared for by State nursing home care or significant professional assistance. Approximately 15% of carers are refused the carer's allowance on the basis that they are not giving full-time care and attention. In most cases in our experience this is because of the distance they are from the person for whom they are caring or because the care recipient wishes to hold on to some form of independence, for instance, he or she might not want help with dressing or cooking.

There are no specific guidelines on the length apart, in distance or in time, that a person must be to quality for carer's allowance but the Department provides a general list of tasks that it expects each carer to carry out. Many carers go through the long application form on which there are 69 questions, which is a little onerous, only to be turned down at this point. While accepting that every case is different, there should be clear criteria for full-time care and attention rules so that applicants know where they stand before they apply. I would argue that there should be a relaxation in the criteria that allow carers qualify where the carer saves the State a nursing home place, which is significantly costly as the Minister of State will probably agree.

On the essential question of whether the care recipient would require nursing home care or significant professional assistance if he or she was not receiving assistance from the applicant, I ask the Minister of State to provide statistics on carer's allowance applications that were refused. These might be helpful in that regard.