I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 26 together.
The pre-budget submission from the National Council for the Aged contained a number of recommendations arising from the council's report Caring for the Elderly which had been published previously. In their report the council examined the present arrangements for providing assistance to incapacitated old age pensioners who are being cared for by another person, through the prescribed relative allowance scheme.
The council recommend that the assistance provided in this situation should operate on the principle of compensation for the cost to carers of lost work opportunities outside the home and also for the additional household costs incurred as a result of their caring role. To this end the council recommend the payment of two separate allowances in cases where an elderly person requires care and attention. These are: an allowance on the lines of the prescribed relative allowance but payable in any case where an elderly person is incapacitated to a significant degree and requires care and an allowance to the carer equivalent to the unemployment benefit or assistance to which they would otherwise be entitled. The council's recommendations would involve a major change in existing arrangements and would have very significant cost implications.
I will keep the council's views in mind in the context of future developments in this area. I have also brought these views to the attention of the National Pensions Board which will be reporting to me later this year on future pension provisions generally.