Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 8 Oct 2024

Teachta, carers do extraordinary work all across Ireland. They show incredible dedication to vulnerable loved ones that they care for, parents who care for children and young adults with complex needs, those who look after their elderly parents, and those who care for family members with disabilities. Caring is work done with love, but it is work. It is 24-7, every day, every night, non-stop. Carers do not get to clock out, they keep going. And the work they do saves the state billions. Yet there is very little recognition from the state, and for many there is no recognition at all. Taoiseach, it is wrong that carers' allowance is means-tested. That means-test must be abolished. In your budget last week, you allocated just €11 million to relax the means-test. As a first step towards scrapping the means-test, we in Sinn Fein proposed an allocation of €100 million, that is ten times higher than your government. Our proposal would have increased the income threshold to €730, or €1,460 for a couple, that compares to only €625, or €1,250 for a couple, under the government's measure. So yours is a modest improvement Taoiseach, but you are making carers wait until next July for this to kick in. Why is that? Why are you making carers wait? The very real pressure on carers was laid bare in Ortiz's lifeline last week. One caller, Angela, told her story. She was getting half-carers' allowance to care for her 24-year-old daughter, Shannon. Shannon has spastic cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease, scoliosis. She is blind and she is PEG-fed. She is on multiple medications and she requires round-the-clock care. Angela was means-tested in May. She was informed that her allowance would be cut by €40 a week because her husband earned above the threshold. Her husband, bear in mind, is a man who comes home from work and begins his second job of caring for his beloved daughter. Now, Angela expects that her half-carers will be restored following the budget, but she has got to wait until July for this. Taoiseach, somebody in Angela's situation shouldn't be means-tested at all. Lisa also rang in. She cares for two adult children with autism. She says she'll care for them for the rest of her life. In February, Lisa and her husband were means-tested and her carers' allowance was slashed by a third because her husband was earning slightly over the limit. Lisa's workload didn't change, her bills didn't go down, but Lisa's support was cut. When the threshold was increased last summer, the payment was restored, but that whole experience has robbed her of certainty. She said that the means-test process was incredibly disrespectful. She was asked to submit bank statements, even for the card her daughter uses to buy chocolate when she's out for a walk. She said the process made her feel like a cheat and she was queried as though she were money laundering. Those were her words. So níl se ceart go il dharmad jainta ar cúir maurí ar ríis e sa ríis eala, agus cúir hair ar cúlnais guine, níl se ceart go il ar húl fanocht sé bí la háig fiausse ha bíaga. Thíseach, Angela and Lisa, as you well know, are not alone in how they're treated, and it shouldn't be this way. The carers must have respect, fairness and certainty. So my question is this. Instead of making carers wait until July, Thíseach, will you ensure that the Social Welfare Bill delivers the threshold increases for carers allowance from January? I want to thank the deputy for raising this important matter. I want to begin by recognising, as she did, the very important role that carers play in Irish society. We all know it in our own families, in our own communities, and I know there's widespread views right across this house and Irish society in terms of the need to continue to do all that we can to support our carers. I do note that the likes of Family Carers Ireland, a representative group for Family Carers, spoke in acknowledging a number of the positive steps in this budget for carers. I accept there's always more to do, but I do take seriously their positive comments towards Budget 2025, which we, of course, just delivered last week, and also towards the cost of living measures in that budget, many of which will have a real and meaningful impact for carers much more quickly than, of course, next year. At the end of August, there were 97,407 people in Ireland in receipt of carers allowance. The estimated cost of this scheme this year is expected to be over €1.1 billion, but, of course, you're right, it shouldn't be seen as a cost, because, indeed, it's saving the state such a significant sum of money. We have seen very significant steps by Minister Humphreys in terms of increasing the income disregard for carers allowance, and I know you'd acknowledge that, and certainly representative groups that I've met with the Minister have acknowledged that in my presence. It was €332.50 sent to €625 for a single carer, and it's gone from €665 to €1,250 for a carer who is part of a couple. It's also worth noting that in the Budget we took a number of other steps at the request of carers and their representative organisations, including increasing the capital disregard, we increased this as part of the Budget, and a carer with a spouse or a partner can now have capital of up to €100,000. Again, this was something that we directly heard from carers in our pre-budget meetings and engagements, some of which I also attended. Notwithstanding those improvements, let me agree with you on this point. There is more work to do in relation to this and in relation to eligibility for carers allowance and for carer supports more broadly. That's why my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, did establish a working group to look exactly at the whole area of means-tested payments to family carers. That group will report by the end of the year, and I know that is an important moment and something, again, that carers' representative organisations have looked for as well. There's a variety of costs around what it would cost to abolish the means-tested. I acknowledge you have your work done, we have some work done, and we're awaiting the working group. But a conservative estimate is an additional cost of around €600 million per annum based on current claim numbers. However, actually looking at Census 2022, the number of carers, potential inflow into the system, it could be €2 billion per year. We're aware of that, but I just want to put that out there for the record. We have taken a number of measures in the hearing now, while we're waiting for that working group to conclude this year, including increasing the annual carer support grant by €150 to €2,000. The rate of this grant has increased by €300 since 2021. The social insurance-based carers' benefit has been extended to the self-employed for the first time. We had a bizarre situation where the self-employed couldn't qualify for that. We've rectified that. There's a number of practical measures to help carers with the cost of living, including a €400 cost of living lump sum payment, for carers eligible for the carer support grant in November. In October, we'll see the cost of living bonus being paid to all people who receive weekly long-term social welfare payments, including carers. The Christmas bonus will be paid to over €1.3 million, long-term recipients, including carers. We've increased the weekly rate of carers' allowance and carers' benefit by €12 a week. The fourth successive rise in weekly rates under this government, and rates have increased by €41 per week in the lifetime of this government as well, and a range of other measures. You asked specifically the question in relation to July, and the answer I've been given, which is that we've increased that in July last year. So we're increasing it each 12 months. We last increased it last July. The next level of increase will kick in in next July. But to carers, we're very clear on this. We've taken a number of measures to help in the here and now. We have received positive feedback from their representative organisations in relation to that. There is a recognition of an important piece of work that's underway in relation to that working group, looking at the whole issue of the means-testing for family carers, and we look forward to acting upon its recommendations later this year. Is anything Shebby McDonnell? Well, I was in Crumlin yesterday, as it happens, and I was speaking to a number of families who have children and young people with autism. So we're talking about lots of things, school places and so on, but the one issue that came up with them that I am hearing again and again, and it's not recent, this is a long-standing issue, is the issue around the means test for the carers allowance. I spoke to one woman yesterday and she recounted how her husband now has foregone three different pay increases because it would tip them over the edge in terms of the carers' allowance. They're not a well-off family, Keown Corle, they're struggling to make ends meet. So I put it to you again, and notwithstanding the work of the group that you've set up to investigate the matter, I think we need to accept as a matter of fact and principle that the means test has to be abolished. It's the smartest investment that we will make as a state in our carers and in home caring. But I want to come back to the issue of July versus January. We will move amendments in the Social Welfare Bill to move this back to January. I don't think it's a fair or reasonable explanation, Taoiseach, to people who are struggling as it is to say to them that they have to wait an additional six months because of some government timetabling issue. So I would appeal to you, when we move those amendments, that the government would accept them. We often have an argy-bargy in this place, but on this issue I think there is a broad consensus that we need to do more to support our carers. I acknowledge that, and that's why I've outlined a number of steps that Minister Humphreys has taken that I'm proud of, because I know they've made a real difference, because I've met the people who have benefited from them. There is a recognition that there needs to be changes in relation to the means test. That's why, under Heather Humphreys as Minister, we have seen the amount that somebody can earn going from €332.50 when they're a single person up to €625. And it was €665 for a family, going up to €1,250. And as you rightly say, we've made measures in the budget only announced last week to move that again. We've also heard from carers saying, hang on, we're not just getting caught on the means test in terms of our weekly income. We're getting caught because we're self-employed. Can you do something like that? We have acted on that. We've also heard from the saying, we're not just getting caught on those issues. We can sometimes be caught if we happen to have a bit of capital. If we set aside money for our children or their college or whatever their future, as families can do. And we've acted on that as well. And we will act on the findings of the working group. And we will engage in good faith on these issues during the Social Welfare Bill. Thank you.