Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I appreciate his presence. I welcome the announcement yesterday by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, of €308,000 to fund digital training for carers to assist them in gaining employment, the appointment of a new well-being manager and investment under the Dormant Accounts Fund to make European carers day. In fairness, this investment by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is very welcome.

Over the last number of weeks, I have had a number of meetings with family carers, including Clare Duffy and Catherine Cox of Family Carers Ireland and also Councillor Richie Molloy from Tipperary who the Acting Chairman would know very well. He does incredible work in south Tipperary in terms of supporting carers on the ground. Carers have faced huge challenges over the last two years with Covid. We sometimes forget how many people are carers and how much they do for people. Approximately 13% of the Irish population over the age of 15 provide care. Family carers provide an average of 38.7 hours care per week, which means that collectively carers provide 19 million hours of unpaid care each week. The annual replacement cost of the care provided by family carers is approximately €20 billion. Carers provide this State with a significant amount of time. Nobody wants to be a carer; it just happens. As a Government, there is much we can do to support them. The carer's guarantee is one initiative. Carers have been asking for this for a long time. Rather than coming to Government every year with their hands out and asking for particular amounts of money, a guaranteed amount for, say, three or five years, and guidelines around how it is to be spent would make a huge difference. In fairness to family carers, they have shown how through this initiative we can end the postcode lottery system of carers. Currently, whether you get a carer or not is dependent on where you live.Someone could be in County Tipperary and need a carer for a number of hours a week but not be able to get one because they are just not available but a person in County Meath, for instance, could be inundated with options of carers. Carers say they have a structure in place to solve that problem and if the money the Government is providing for a carer's guarantee is ring-fenced directly for family carers rather than the HSE, it would go to better use. That is something we should do.

Last year, they said they needed €5 million in the carer's guarantee. The €2 million that was put through the budget was welcomed, but it was not enough. The key is that it is not even spent yet. It is 11 months since that budget and the €2 million that was given to the HSE to spend on the carer's guarantee was not even spent. What they need is certainty in the annual funding of carer's guarantee.

There are many other things we can do as a Government to recognise the contribution that carers make. They are only on €216 a week. That is €13 more than standard social welfare payments. It is not something people would race to do. There is need for recognition in the form of an increase. In fairness, last year we gave an extra €150 for the carer's payment grant, bringing it to €1,850. If we did that again, bringing it to €2,000, it would show the commitment of the Government to family carers. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.