Danny Healy-Rae demands end to carer income cap, warns of respite crisis
Danny Healy-Rae spoke in the Dáil supporting a motion from the Social Democrats, urging the government to remove the income cap that affects carers and to tackle acute respite-bed shortages in Kerry ahead of the budget next week. He argued carers save around 20 billion nationally, criticised current respite arrangements as unfair, and pressed the minister for faster action than a pledge "in the lifetime of this government".
He called on the government to get rid of the cap that constrains carers, warning that incremental increases over the lifetime of the government would be inadequate. He asked for more immediate relief than a phased approach, saying the start should go further than "just one fifth" and that carers perform essential unpaid work caring for loved ones.
He described severe shortages of respite capacity across Kerry, citing difficulty finding a single week away and giving personal examples of carers who could not get short breaks. He said families are often unable to secure respite and relayed that in some areas there is only one respite bed available in the local hospital service.
He asserted that physical beds exist but staff do not, and said this staffing shortfall must be addressed. He raised concerns about new community hospital openings being delayed and reminded colleagues that promised primary care facilities in Killarney have still not been delivered.
With the budget due next week, he urged urgent action to recognise carers' contribution and to remove barriers that prevent them taking respite. He highlighted the wider savings carers provide to the state and pressed the minister to move faster than the current timetable outlined in the government's pledge.
Appeal to remove carer income cap
He called on the government to get rid of the cap that constrains carers, warning that incremental increases over the lifetime of the government would be inadequate. He asked for more immediate relief than a phased approach, saying the start should go further than "just one fifth" and that carers perform essential unpaid work caring for loved ones.
Respite-bed shortages in Kerry
He described severe shortages of respite capacity across Kerry, citing difficulty finding a single week away and giving personal examples of carers who could not get short breaks. He said families are often unable to secure respite and relayed that in some areas there is only one respite bed available in the local hospital service.
Staffing and service capacity
He asserted that physical beds exist but staff do not, and said this staffing shortfall must be addressed. He raised concerns about new community hospital openings being delayed and reminded colleagues that promised primary care facilities in Killarney have still not been delivered.
Budget timing and wider impact
With the budget due next week, he urged urgent action to recognise carers' contribution and to remove barriers that prevent them taking respite. He highlighted the wider savings carers provide to the state and pressed the minister to move faster than the current timetable outlined in the government's pledge.
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Transcript
Thank you very much and I'm very glad to get the opportunity and I want to thank the social democrats for putting this motion before us here today because it's certainly very timely and as we're aware of the budget next week and I am and have been appealing to the government to get rid of the the the cap or the the the need for people you know that are essentially caring for loved ones caring for human beings and when you become a carer you actually have to live in many in many instances the other person's life whether to the person that has Alzheimer's or whatever they've got whatever disability they have you have to work around them and ensure that they're treated as humans and and that they're seen after and that their daily and only needs are met and to the fierce responsibility and just because someone's partner or some other person in the house is earning other money that the carer is not have no access to it's not fair it's not fair minister and I hear what you have been saying he promising to get rid of it in the lifetime of this government but I'm asking if he could and what that means to me is that he's going to increase the cap year by year over the four or five years but I'd be asking at the start to go further than just one fifth of it and and and try to do do more because it is very important it is very essential and carers are doing massive work and has been said here by many that that um 20 billion is being saved by the carers around the country so then uh minister what I have to ask for this summer I never got a bigger fright with people wanting a few days off and looking for to put their the person they're caring for into some respite place impossible to get a respite bed in Kerry for anyone that wanted to go away for a week and I remember a daughter saying to me look Danny she said I don't mind too much myself but I want to go with my little boy on holidays for a week and he's not he's more attached to me than to his father and I've been minding my mother continuously for five years can you imagine that minister continuously seeing after the the daily and hourly needs of her mother and that she couldn't go away for one week it's it's up I felt it was absolutely savage and I tell you about respite beds take their leave from the make the bridges where we turn off the the in 22 for Kilgarven all that territory down to Kilgarven Khmer Sneem Castle Cove and back into Cahardanel we've only one respite bed in Khmer hospital for that for that service one hospital bed and and people are supposed to get four weeks in the year but there's no way you'll only get one week and you and do you know minister you have to book that bed this year if you want a respite bed next year sometime in the middle of the summer you must book it now can you imagine that minister you must book it a year ahead for Kilgarven Community Hospital Kilgarven Community Hospital Kilgarven Community Hospital Lysdor Community Hospital Cancerveen Community Hospital you'll have to book it a year ahead for respite that's not fair and people are being treated terribly and I'm asking to look into that because the beds are there but I know the staff aren't there and that's what needs to be addressed and I I'm very hort about it when I see a young girl with a family and she have an artistic little boy that she couldn't go away for a week for a bit of a holiday just seven days I had another woman lady in Killarney and and she's reminding her mother-in-law for so for so many years and the woman needs an awful lot of care and an awful lot of attention she couldn't get a respite bed anywhere and I don't know how she managed in the finish but she was crying days to me on the phone it's a terrible situation and that's what's happening in Kerry and we've been left down very bad and we don't open our new community hospital is opening we've been asking to being put back and why I'm asking so seriously about that because there are other plans for the for the old district hospital and for the grounds and for the grounds of St Finian we don't have we don't have a primary care unit we've been promised for so so for so many years for for a primary care unit in Killarney and we're still waiting look I know deputy Cahad is here and he has time as well