Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of carers, thousands of people are in need of care and thousands of people are giving care that sometimes is the subject of a carer's allowance but many more are giving unpaid care. Very often, they are the hidden heroes in our country. We have heard the figure of 195,000 people giving care but at a recent health committee meeting, I asked our health officials, recognising that money is not the only consideration but when services are costed it concentrates people's minds, whether the State can show the extent to which it is taking the interest it should take. I asked whether a financial value had been put on the unpaid care being given by so many people in the home, if one was to look at what it would cost to care for people in nursing homes who currently are being cared for at home, either completely by unpaid carers or by people getting the carer's allowance. It was very interesting that they did not have a figure for me. They said there was no good reason they should not have a figure and that perhaps it was something they should examine.

On the figure of 6.6 million hours of unpaid care being given weekly, in some cases by very elderly people and in others by minors, if we were to cost that at a basic €10 an hour, that would add up to €3.4 billion a year. That should concentrate minds. We need to step up the priority we give to the caring that is being done by thousands of people in our society. We are not appreciating sufficiently the work they were doing and if they were not doing it, there would be enormous extra demands and pressures on the State. I hope that will concentrate minds at the highest level in these days.