Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Taoiseach to the House. In my capacity as health spokesperson for Fine Gael, one issue that predominates discussions on a regular basis is family carers. People who give up their careers to look after loved ones find themselves in a situation in which they do not get paid for it is not acceptable in a modern society. We need not just to radically overhaul the whole means test element associated with the carer's allowance but to eliminate it. If people are doing a job that is essentially saving the State money, they should be in a position to get paid for it without going through enormous amounts of red tape.

Four out of five people who suffer sight loss do so unnecessarily, simply because there is not early or timely intervention. There is no national strategy at the moment to eliminate and reduce preventable blindness or preventable sight loss. I would like this Government to lead in that area. It ties into the child poverty unit because sight loss leads to poverty, with 83% of people with sight loss unemployed. If there was a national strategy on the elimination of preventable sight loss, it would do a huge amount to help the next generation.