Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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24. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if consideration has been given to recognising the work carried out by family carers throughout Covid-19. [5343/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a comprehensive package of carers’ income supports including Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Combined spending on all these payments to carers in 2022 is estimated to exceed €1.5 billion.

Despite the extra financial demands due to the Covid-19 crisis, I increased the Carer’s Support Grant by €150 to a rate of €1,850. This is the highest rate since its introduction. The Grant was automatically paid to people in receipt of Carer's Allowance, Carer’s Benefit and Domiciliary Care allowance in June.

In acknowledgement of the crucial role that family carers play in our society I introduced a number of measures as part of Budget 2022 in relation to supports provided by my Department. Measures announced directly benefitting family carers include:

- €5 increase in maximum rate of all core weekly payments including carers, with effect from January.

- €3 increase for qualified child dependants aged 12 and over and €2 for those up to age 12, in all core weekly payments.

- €5 increase in the Fuel Allowance from €28 to €33 per week, from 12 October 2021.

- An increase in the weekly income disregard for Carer’s Allowance to €350 a week for single carers and to €750 for carers with a spouse/partner.

- An increase in the Capital/Savings disregard for Carer’s Allowance from €20,000 to €50,000.

I can assure the Deputy that I am very aware of the key role carers play in society, in particular the challenges they faced in light of Covid-19, and I will continue to keep the range of supports available to carers under review. Any further improvements to these supports can only be considered in a budgetary context and in the light of available financial resources.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.