Eight months on from the General Election and family carers are still in the dark as to when the Government will honour its commitment to abolish the means test for carers allowance for the hundreds of thousands of people engaged in this care.
Aontu representative for Clare, June Dillon has been asked by concerned families in the county when will the means test for family carers be abolished, as Aontu had campaigned for this in the years prior to the election. She is meeting adult children caring for parents, spouses caring for their partners and parents caring for their children who are struggling with the burden.
Raising the issue in the Seanad, Aontú Senator Sarah O’ Reilly termed the uncertainty very “disquieting and disappointing for family carers”.
Ms Dillon says “We are constantly raising this issue, both in the Seanad and the Dail but we need a concrete timeline .When will action be taken, with a cost of living and housing crisis increasing stressors for family carer? She believes the government promises made prior to the general election to cut means testing for carers allowance was nothing more than a ply to garner votes. “There seems to be no definite plan to help alleviate the suffering that family carers are going through every day. Aontu are calling for a detailed breakdown and timeline of when the means test will be abolished. Families need answers, and they need more support.”
Half a million or so family carers in this country are saving the state some €20 billion a year; that is a staggering amount of money.
So many of them work round the clock, they have forfeited their careers in many cases, their pension credits, they get scant respite, and they deserve more than hollow lip service from this state. So many of them live in a state of perpetual exhaustion but they go on as they love the people they care for
We are seeing this right across the board …foster families and carers are two of the hardest pressed groups in their country. It is terrible to say this, but the government knows that carers can’t and won’t walk away. They can’t and won’t go on strike.
There is another terrible anomaly here also; We are constantly hearing about ‘women’s rights, equality and inclusion’ from this so called ‘progressive‘ government but it is shocking to know that the women who are family carers are often denied carers allowance because of their husbands’ salaries.
“Aontú has been one of the most consistent voices on this issue. We have brought forward two motions on the abolition of the means test as a point of principle as we believe that carers have a fundamental right to a fair and decent wage for the work they do. We fervently believe that no matter what financial circumstances family carers come from, if they care for loved ones they deserve to be paid. This is a fundamental right. Anything less is exploitation.”
“We will not rest until this Government honours its pre-election promise to completely get rid of this means test for the families of Co. Clare and starts with a totally clear timeline.”