Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He is the Minister for Health. He should demand that the documents be sent to Dr. Scally as soon as possible. I ask the Leader here to make sure that we do that. What the Minister said on RTÉ Radio One this morning was unacceptable.

This week is national carers week and there are events going on around the country to highlight the incredible work that families do and as we know family carers do not get the proper support and acknowledgement they deserve. I know from personal experience that we should be honouring these selfless family members who give of themselves to look after our loved ones in their homes. I also want to mention that on Thursday, 21 June, Family Carers Ireland will be selling heart shaped pins for €2 to raise awareness and much needed funds for family carers in Ireland. It is appropriate that on the longest day of the year we would shine a light on the contribution of our carers. While I encourage everyone to get out and support this worthy cause, we need to look at how the State recognises the hard work they do, the savings they provide to the State and the hours of work they put in without correct reward. Currently, carer's allowance is a payment made by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection for carers who are looking after someone who is in need of support because of age, physical or learning disability or illness including mental illness. It is a means-tested payment and mainly paid to carers on low incomes who look after a person full-time. The person needing care must require continuous supervision and have a requirement for help throughout the day with their personal needs such as walking, dressing, washing, eating and drinking or continuous supervision to avoid danger to themselves and full-time care attention for at least 12 months must be needed. This amounts to €214 per week but people often face months of scrutiny to qualify for the payment. They cannot take a second job over 15 hours per week yet they are on call 24-7. This is unacceptable. We need to take a look at introducing a proper salary for these carers that comes from the health budget, not the social welfare budget. The timescale could be up to 12 months for payment whether it is through appeals or further information being sought. We need to start recognising what these people are doing - they are working for the State not themselves. They are looking after our family members