Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking the Commencement debate on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Feighan, who sends his apologies. I thank the Senator for raising this important issue.

Family carers are the backbone of care provision across the country. Whether caring for a child or a parent with a disability or illness or an elderly family member, carers, through their selfless hard work, knowledge and compassion, enhance the quality of life of the most vulnerable in our society on a daily basis.

The programme for Government aims to prioritise policy actions that protect the most vulnerable, including both those in caring roles and those they care for, as our economy returns to growth in the aftermath of the pandemic. The Department of Health is committed to improving supports for family carers. The national carers' strategy is a cross-departmental strategy, designed around a core vision which recognises and respects carers as key care partners who are supported to maintain their own health and well-being, care with confidence and who are empowered to participate as fully as possible in economic and social life.

Under the strategy, a range of measures have been introduced or extended by the Department to support family carers in recent years. Since September 2018, free GP visit cards have been extended for persons in receipt of the carer's allowance, and the Government commits to further extending this service to those in receipt of the carer’s support grant.

On respite care, the HSE has agreed to fund 27,000 hours of emergency respite through Family Carers Ireland to ensure that immediate care needs of care recipients will be met in the event that a carer is unable to continue in his or her caring role due to Covid-19 or other reasons.

In addition, a carer's needs assessment will be piloted in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 2 this year, which will increase our knowledge of carers' needs. Having a better awareness and understanding of the needs of family carers is crucial to ensure that we develop appropriate services to support carers both within and outside of their caring role.

The programme for Government commits to delivering a carer's guarantee proposal, to which the Senator Ahearn referred, that will provide a core basket of services to carers across the country, regardless of where they live. This commitment is consistent with the national carers' strategy, which seeks to support family carers to care with confidence through the provision of adequate information, training, services and supports.

In budget 2021, €2 million was allocated as a first step towards delivering a carer's guarantee, providing a more standard package of supports to family carers in every region, in tandem with the community and voluntary sector. The Department of Health is actively engaging with the HSE and with representative groups on this matter to ensure the funding will improve equity of access to carer supports across the country.

As the Senator will appreciate, however, I cannot comment at this stage on the outcome of the Estimates process or matters which will be the subject of national service planning in 2022. However, I will bring the matters to which the Senator refers to the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan's attention. He committed, because of his absence today, to meet the Senator Ahearn following the debate to discuss any relevant matters he raised, which I will make note of.