Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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726. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the financial supports available to parents caring for adult children suffering from severe drug addiction and related mental health issues, who are not living with them, but who are caring for them to the extent that they are unable to work full time, and are providing them with significant financial support; the level of funding his Department provided for this purpose; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63725/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The main income supports to family carers provided by my Department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €2.2 billion in 2026.

To qualify for these payments, the applicant must provide full-time care and attention to a person in need of such care. The person being cared for must be so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention and be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months.

Eligibility for the carer income supports provided by my Department, including Carer’s Allowance, is not dependent on the nature of the illness or disability of the person being cared for. What matters is the level of full-time care and attention required and provided by the applicant.

Section 179(4) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 sets out the circumstances in which a relevant person, the person being cared for, shall be regarded as requiring full-time care and attention. These circumstances are where the person has such a disability that they require from another person continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day with normal bodily functions or continual supervision to avoid danger to themselves.

A carer is regarded as providing full-time care and attention to a relevant person, where the number of hours providing such care is not less than 35 hours in a period of seven consecutive days, and care is provided on any five days, whether consecutive or not, within a period of seven consecutive days.

However, to support a carer’s continued connection to the workforce and to support broader social inclusion, carers may engage in employment, education or training for up to 18.5 hours per week, while still being regarded as being in a position to provide full-time care and continue to receive their full payment. During this time of employment, education or training, adequate provision must be made for the care of the relevant person.

It is worth noting that Carer’s Allowance is payable where a carer shares the caring duties with another person or with an institution, on a week on/week off basis. Each carer will share the Carer’s Allowance payment and the annual Carer’s Support Grant. It is also not necessary for the carer and the care recipient to live at the same address in order for the carer to qualify for a payment. All the usual qualifying conditions for Carer's Allowance apply to carers availing of these arrangements.

Last month, as part of Budget 2026, I announced a number of measures to support family carers, these include:

• A Christmas Bonus double payment will be paid in December 2025.
• From January 2026 there will be a €10 increase in the maximum rate of Carer's Allowance and Carer's Benefit. There will be proportionate increases for people getting a reduced rate. This is the fifth successive rise in weekly welfare rates which have increased by €51 over the last five years.
• Also in January, there will be a €20 increase to the monthly Domiciliary Care Allowance payment, bringing it to €380. This payment has increased by €70.50 per month since January 2023.
• From July 2026, there will be an increase in the Carer's Allowance income disregard to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a couple. Since June 2022, this amounts to cumulative increases to the disregards of €667.50 and €1,335 respectively, or an increase of just over 200%.
• In line with Carer’s Allowance, the earnings limit for Carer’s Benefit will also increase next year from €625 to €1,000, after tax.
• Where eligible, Carer’s Allowance recipients will benefit from the increase to the Fuel Allowance payment of €5 per week.
• For carers with children the weekly rates of the Child Support Payment will increase by €16 to €78 for children aged 12 and over, and by €8 to €58 for under 12s in January 2026.