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

Friday, 21 June is the national family carers' day in Ireland and Shine a Light will mark the occasion. I encourage all Senators to support it. I have consistently raised the importance of carers in our society and I am increasingly frustrated with the time it takes to process carer's allowance applications. At my regular clinics I hear of backlogs of between six and eight months and that is not acceptable. The Government must do more to help these people. It costs the State three times as much to look after an older person in a nursing home than it costs to provide care for them in their own home. The number of people aged over 65 in Ireland will double over the next 30 years while the number aged over 85 will nearly quadruple. We need proper support to be in place as we are all living longer. Giving older people and those with disabilities the opportunity to remain and grow old in their own homes is a central plank of Fianna Fáil policy and we believe the waiting times for decisions that impact on people's lives are unreasonable.

This morning there was a meeting in Buswells Hotel about carers and the impact of caring. The carers who were there spoke about the mental and physical impact it has on them and we need to address this. The carers are doing an excellent job and they feel they need more support from the Government. A respite centre was meant to open in Tullow nearly three years ago. We have no overnight respite service but such facilities are crucial for families. I ask the Deputy Leader to go back to the Minister to highlight the concerns I heard about this morning and to address the time people are waiting for their applications to be processed.