Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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34. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has made an analysis of the impact of the cut in the respite care grant payment on its recipients; if she will reverse the cut made; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9370/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The financial supports available to carers in Ireland, are among the highest rates of income support in Europe. Expenditure on carers has increased significantly in recent years and it is estimated that the overall expenditure for 2015 will be €822 million which is €11 million higher than the expected outturn for 2014. This does not include the value of other welfare payments which over 25,000 recipients of half-rate carer’s allowance also receive.

I fully appreciate the important and difficult role that carers undertake in this country and that carers need our support. The annual respite care payment is a single lump sum with no requirement to satisfy a means test. There is no equivalent payment for carers in any other country in Europe. In excess of €118 million was spent on the respite care grant in 2014.

In framing budgetary adjustments, the primary concern has been to protect primary social welfare rates. In order to protect the core weekly payments which people receive, including disability payments, pensions and carer’s allowance, in 2013, the Government had to look very carefully at other additional payments, including the respite care grant. Any change to the respite care grant can only be considered in the context of the overall economic and budgetary position in the current year.

One of the main findings of the Budget 2013 Social Impact Assessments (SIAs) was that the principal welfare and direct tax measures in that Budget led to no significant change in the at-risk-of-poverty rate. This confirms the continuing strong poverty reduction effect of social transfers during fiscal consolidation. In Budget 2015, I further enhanced the poverty reduction effect of social transfers and I am confident that these measures will be reflected in improved poverty statistics in the future.