I propose to take Question Nos. 29, 32, 42, 48, 56, 69, 77, 84, 388 and 403 together.
The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment which provides income support to people who are providing certain elderly or incapacitated persons with full-time care and attention and whose incomes fall below a certain limit. The primary objective of the social welfare system is to provide income support and, as a general rule, only one weekly social welfare payment is payable to an individual. This ensures that resources are not used to make two income support payments to any one person.
According to census 2002, there are 48,500 people providing personal care for over four hours per day. Just over 24,200 of these are in receipt of either carer's allowance or carer's benefit. This means that 50% of the 48,500 carers, as estimated by the CSO to be caring for more than four hours per day, are in receipt of a specific carer's payment from my Department.
I have been conscious, however, that there are carers who, because they are not in need of income support and consequently do not qualify for a weekly payment from my Department, feel that their contribution is not being recognised. For that reason, in the last budget I made provision to extend the annual respite care grant to all carers who are providing medically certified full-time care to a person who needs such care. This is also subject to some employment related conditions. This means that the respite care grant is now available to all carers who are providing medically certified full-time care. Accordingly, carers who are receiving a social welfare payment or those who are qualified adults on another person's pension or those who are not currently receiving a weekly social welfare payment may now qualify for a respite care grant from my Department.
The amount of the grant increased from €835 to €1,000 in June 2005. Provision has also been made to pay a grant in respect of each care recipient, where previously the grant was only available for up to two people. This benefits those who provide care for three or more people. I expect that this measure will benefit over 9,000 carers who are not currently in receipt of carer's allowance or carer's benefit. Overall, some 33,000 full-time carers will receive the grant at a cost of €36 million this year. This will bring the total expenditure on supports for carers from my Department to over €250 million this year.
I recently had the pleasure of launching the Carers Association's Towards a Carer's Strategy. It is a focused document with clear objectives and actions. These objectives and actions cover a range of areas and Government Departments, including income support and health related issues. With regard to a policy framework for the future funding of long-term care for older people, the long-term care working group, which is chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and comprises senior officials from the Departments of Finance, Health and Children and Social and Family Affairs, is continuing its work. The objective of this group is to identify the policy options for a financially sustainable system of long-term care, taking account of the Mercer report, the views of the consultation that was undertaken on that report and the review of the nursing home subvention scheme. The group will report to the Tánaiste and myself during the summer.
I will also continue to work with my colleagues in Government to develop the type of co-ordinated services which provide real support and practical assistance to people who devote their time to improving the quality of life for others.