Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 February 2022
9. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons in County Mayo in receipt of the carer’s allowance; if they will receive a bonus payment for their contribution throughout the pandemic; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5491/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI was pleased earlier when I heard that the Government is going to examine cost of living again and the impact that it is having. My question is very pertinent because it is about giving the Covid bonus payment to the 500,000 family carers around the country. There would be no better way of showing that the work of carers is really respected and that the Government recognises the severe impact that energy prices and fuel prices have had on carers throughout the State. I ask the Minister to go back to Cabinet and fight for them.
My Department provides a comprehensive package of carers' income supports, including the carer's allowance, carer's benefit, domiciliary care allowance and the carer's support grant. Combined spending on these payments to carers in 2022 is estimated to exceed €1.5 billion. There are currently 2,976 recipients of carer's allowance in County Mayo. The Minister for Health has confirmed the payment of a Covid recognition payment, ring-fenced to certain workers ordinarily on-site in Covid-19-exposed healthcare environments. This payment is a matter for him and is not under the responsibility of my Department.
Insofar as my role as Minister for Social Protection is concerned, I have done my utmost to support the invaluable work and role played by carers in our society. Despite the extra financial demands due to the Covid-19 crisis, I increased the carer's support grant by €150 to a rate of €1,850. This is the highest rate since its introduction. In budget 2022, I introduced a range of measures benefiting family carers directly, including a €5 increase in maximum rate of all core weekly payments with effect from January; a €3 increase for qualified child dependants aged 12 and over, and a €2 increase for those up to age 12, in all core weekly payments; a €5 increase in the fuel allowance from €28 to €33 per week from 12 October 2021; an increase in the weekly income disregard for carer's allowance to €350 a week for single carers, and to €750 for carers with a spouse or partner; and an increase in the capital or savings disregard for carer's allowance from €20,000 to €50,000. I assure the Deputy that I am very aware of the key role of carers and, in particular, the challenges they faced in light of Covid-19. I trust this clarifies the matter for her.
I would still ask the Minister to go back to Cabinet and highlight the issue. I know that the Covid recognition payment is a matter for the Minister for Health, but there is an opportunity for the Department of Social Protection to look at the cost of living in terms of the 500,000 people who have probably contributed the most during the pandemic, and to give them the Covid payment. The past two years were tough for many. I wholeheartedly welcome the bonus of €1,000 for front-line healthcare workers, including ambulance workers and others. I understand that many other groups of workers also had reasonable requests for some recognition of their contribution. However, carers' shifts never end and they had no respite during the pandemic. They often did not have the time to do homeschooling either. They really were the ones that were there, and they did not get a break at all. We all know the carers in our communities, as I am sure the Minister does. I ask the Minister to go back to Cabinet and fight for carers at this particular time. There are carers living in rural areas who have to pay for fuel for going to hospital appointments and so on, and for energy to heat their homes. The Minister knows of the extra costs involved. This payment could be given to them as a once-off payment in recognition of their work.
The Deputy is correct. Carers do incredible work; I accept that. I meet them in my constituency. We help them fill out the forms and we help them to get the benefits, and all those things. I am the first Minister in 14 years to do anything about the means test for the carer's allowance. It was an issue that I was very passionate about. That change means that all carers currently on a reduced rate of payment will see their payment increase from next June. It will also mean that tens of thousands more carers, who did not qualify up to this point due to the income threshold, will now qualify for the payment. The increase in the income disregard for a couple was something that I really wanted to improve, because I was aware that in many cases a partner who was a carer, and usually a mother, might have to give up her job to care for a sick child, but because the husband was working or they had savings, they just did not qualify for the benefit. As a result of the changes I am making, a couple can earn up to €750 a week, and the first €50,000 in savings will not be impacted or counted. I know the family carers and Care Alliance Ireland have warmly welcomed these changes. We have increased the carer's support grant, we have increased the weekly payment and we have reformed the means test. My next priority is to ensure that we can provide carers with a pension. That is something that I hope to progress as part of our consideration of the report of the Commission on Pensions.
