Vol. 417 No. 3
29 Mr. Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny) asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline, (a) the number of carers looking after two or more people who applied for the allowance and (b) the actual number of those who were given the full allowance.
The carer's allowance introduced in November 1990 is a means-tested payment for persons on low incomes who are living with and providing elderly or incapacitated social welfare pensioners with full-time care and attention. From July last year, the allowance was extended to include carers of recipients of disabled person's maintenance allowance.
Only one allowance is payable per carer and, accordingly, statistics are not maintained as to the number of recipients who are caring for two or more elderly or disabled people.
