Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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11. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her Department has undertaken any assessment on the merits of ending the means test on the carer’s allowance. [37630/24]

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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50. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to report on the recent changes to the carer’s allowance means test; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26536/24]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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There are five Deputies present, only three of whom are looking for re-election. The rest of the Deputies must be canvassing for the election at the moment.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I would not mind doing a bit of canvassing as well.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I want to speak to the issue of care and the fact that care is so vital in our society at the moment. One in eight Irish people currently provide unpaid care. It is a tremendously tough job. It is often 24-7. It can be extremely demanding. How can we start to help, in the context of income, people who are providing care? Many of them are means-tested and many of them are suffering because they deliver care.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 50 together. Since my appointment as Minister, I have made significant improvements to the means test for carer's allowance. I have taken a range of actions to improve supports for carers over recent years through increasing payment rates and income disregards and providing once-off and extra double payments. It is important to acknowledge that there are a range of other supports for carers provided by the Department of Social Protection which are not based on a means assessment, such as the carer’s support grant, carer’s benefit and domiciliary care allowance.

In budget 2022, the income disregards were increased to €350 for a single person and to €750 for carers with a spouse or partner. The capital and savings disregard was also increased, from €20,000 to €50,000. This equates to €100,000 in the case of a couple. As part of budget 2024, the weekly income disregards were further increased, from €350 to €450 for a single person and from €750 to €900 for carers with a spouse or partner. These are the highest disregards in the social welfare system. Notwithstanding these improvements, I have established an interdepartmental working group with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to examine and review the system of means test for carer's payments. The work of the group is ongoing and I expect it to report to me in the coming weeks.

The removal of the means assessment for carer’s allowance would not only change the nature of the scheme as an income support, it would also have significant policy and budgetary implications and would reduce the scope for the Department to provide income supports to lower-income households. Removing the means test for carer’s allowance in its entirety would create a new universal social protection scheme for those meeting the scheme’s basic caring condition. It is estimated that it would give rise to additional costs of some €600 million, rising to between €880 million and €2 billion per annum in total.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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We accept that this is enormously valuable work.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Yes, absolutely.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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That is really important to say. We also accept that the care that is actually provided saves the State a considerable amount of money. The Minister would have to recognise that the tens of thousands of men and women throughout the State who are caring are saving the State possibly billions of euro in terms of care that would otherwise have to be provided by the State. We know that individuals who provide care suffer significant income loss as a result of that.

It is important to note that this year the Government brought about a referendum for a constitutional amendment. In the referendum on that constitutional amendment, it said that there would be a new dawn for carers in Ireland. That was the commitment the Government made in March to the carers around the country. Obviously, at this stage, the budget is just a few days away. I encourage the Minister to fulfil that promise that there will be a new dawn for carers in this country by actually getting rid of the means test for carers.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I recognise and value the work of our carers. I mean that. We all know carers who are doing wonderful work. My Department will spend more than €1.7 billion this year on our support payments to carers. If you look at my record, improving supports for our carers has been a key priority for me as Minister for Social Protection.

I might also say that I was delighted to introduce the new scheme to provide pension contributions to long-term carers from the start of January. There has been a strong interest in it. As I outlined, there is a large number of carers, mainly women, who will qualify for a pension because of the changes we have made. That is to be welcomed and I think it was the right thing to do. I know that number will grow further and further into the future. We have that scheme in place. I acknowledge the support I have received from Family Carers Ireland to make these changes. I have engaged with it regularly and I do listen to it.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I will be honest with the Minister - there is a crisis in care right across the State at the moment. If you look at childcare, for example, childcare units are closing on a weekly basis. Even though the people who provide childcare are professionals, they get some of the lowest wages in the State. Children in State care are in crisis at the moment. The State is putting children who are in State care into unregulated special emergency accommodation and many of those children are going missing and, according to studies that have been done by UCD, are being exposed to sexual exploitation. Nursing homes are also closing at the moment, so-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are going beyond the scope of the question.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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We do have an issue with care in this country and we have to value care more than we do.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The question is specific.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The question is, do we value care that is being delivered, sometimes by family members and oftentimes by non-family members, to people who are in need right across the country? The measure of the value a government places on a particular issue is through the financial contribution it will make to the delivery of that care. It is very clear that many people are suffering financially because of the delivery of that care. All I request is that there not be a financial penalty for those who deliver care.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government and I personally value the work that carers do. As I said, this year alone €1.7 billion be spent on supporting our carers. We have done a lot, including through lump sum payments for carers, pensions for carers and major changes to the means test. Weekly payments have been increased by €29 over the past three years. I assure the Deputy that supporting our carers will be a key priority for me in next week’s budget.