Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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155. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if changes will be made to the condition regarding qualification for full carer’s allowance whereby people who are in receipt of a State pension (contributory) are only entitled to apply and claim for half-rate carer’s allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26639/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government acknowledges the crucial role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for Government and the National Carers’ Strategy.

This 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 these payments to carers in 2024 is estimated at over €1.7 billion.

The Carer’s Allowance scheme is the main scheme by which the Department provides income support to carers in the community. At the end of May there were 96,742 recipients of Carer’s Allowance. In 2024 the expenditure on the Carer’s Allowance scheme is estimated to be over €1.1 billion.

Carer’s Allowance is a means tested social assistance payment awarded to those carers who are caring for certain people whose disability is such that they require full-time care and attention.

The Irish social welfare system is underpinned by a general principle of one person, one payment. Normally people qualifying for two social welfare payments receive the higher payment for which they are eligible. However, there are a limited number of exceptions where a person may receive another payment.

One such exception is half-rate Carer’s Allowance. Introduced in 2007, this arrangement allows people in receipt of particular social welfare payments, who are providing full-time care and attention, to retain their main payment and receive another payment, depending on their means, the maximum of which is equivalent to a half-rate Carer’s Allowance. Therefore, a person who may have an underlying entitlement to another social welfare payment (such as the State Pension), can transfer to that payment and continue to receive up to a half-rate Carer’s Allowance.

This arrangement applies to almost all weekly social welfare payments and to people in receipt of qualified adult allowances. Recipients of Jobseeker’s Allowance or Benefit are not eligible given the job seeking nature of these payments. However, a person may be a qualified adult on these payments and receive half-rate Carer’s Allowance.

There are currently 45,388 recipients (included in the overall total of Carer's Allowance recipients) of the Half-rate payment. This means that these recipients, including pensioners, are already receiving a full social welfare payment on another scheme plus half a carers payment.

It is also worth noting that carers aged 66 or over already receive a higher rate of Carers Allowance compared to those under 66. The maximum weekly half-rate of payment for a carer aged 66 or over and caring for one person is €143.00. This is €19.00 more than a carer aged under 66.

The provision of a full-rate Carer’s Allowance payment to those already in receipt of another social welfare payment, as suggested by the Deputy, would have implications for overall spending and for other affected social welfare payments.

I trust that this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.