Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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35. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if it is her intention to restore the level of the respite grant to what it was in 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24677/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The estimated expenditure on carers in 2015 is over €822 million: €564 million on Carer’s Allowance, €21 million on Carer’s Benefit, €124 million on the Respite Care Grant and €113 million on Domiciliary Care Allowance. The payment of the Respite Care Grant (RCG) for 2015 commenced this June, with automatic payments issuing to over 70,000 carers.

The estimated cost in 2016 of increasing the RCG by €325, from €1,375 to €1,700, is €29.4 million in a full year. Any change in the rate of Respite Care Grant would have to be considered in a Budgetary context.