Verona Murphy Condemns Means Test for Carers, Calls for Abolition
Verona Murphy challenged the minister over the carers means test and demanded its abolition in her 49th speech on carers. She said the means test penalises unpaid carers, urged payment for their work and criticised the government for accepting motions close to an election without action.
Parliamentary remarks
Verona Murphy said this was her 49th speech on carers and criticised Sinn Féin for not pushing earlier for abolition. She said her regional group has brought two motions for abolition that the minister accepted, and argued the acceptance now — roughly 24 hours before an election — reflected an unwillingness to act.
Scale of carers and means testing
Murphy noted the minister claimed support for 97,000 carers but pointed to census figures showing nearly 300,000 carers and a likely increase since then. She criticised the means test that assesses household income and effectively penalises those providing unpaid care, and said roughly two thirds of carers are women and one third are men.
Economic impact and review practices
Murphy cited research — PhD work at Maynooth College paid for by Family Carers Ireland — estimating carers save the State about €20 billion. She criticised the frequency of reviews on carers, saying around 12,000 reviews are carried out each year and at a rate five times higher than for jobseekers, while carers are not being paid commensurately for the services they provide.
Personal cases and gender implications
Murphy described extreme personal examples, including a mother of four severely disabled children receiving one and a half carers allowance payments (around €400 a week) while providing full-time physio, therapy and care and saving the State over €1 million. She argued that because most carers are women, the policy response has been inadequate and asserted that if two thirds of carers were men they would be paid without a means test.
Calls for action and disappointment
Murphy expressed deep disappointment that abolition of the means test has not occurred during the current government's term and urged that the issue be prioritised by the next government, whether she returns to the Dáil or not. She said she will continue to advocate for carers and to press for payment and an end to what she called punitive assessments.
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Thank you Chair. Minister, this is my 49th speech on carers. Whilst I welcome the fact that Sinn Féin brought a motion, I am disappointed that Sinn Féin did not come on as an opposition party much earlier to look for the abolition of carers. Whilst she always maintained there should be a more streamlined approach and maybe a little incremental increase in that, you did not look for the abolition. We have brought two motions for the abolition of carers as a regional group, my colleague and I Sean Kenny and my other colleagues. Two motions Minister, that you also accepted and the reason you accepted them is because you were not going to do anything about it. Here we are, maybe 24 hours out from an election and you are accepting this motion again because you know you are not going to do anything about it. The reality is that you have made a speech today which says that you are supporting 97,000 carers. Let me tell you, you are not supporting another 200,000. As per the last census there were nearly 300,000 carers in this country and we know that that has increased since the last census. My colleague said how we treat carers, we don't treat carers, we mistreat them. We are carrying out a means test that is, as it has been said a hundred times, mean. We are actually assessing somebody else's income to penalise the person who is providing the care to assess whether or not they have enough money and they don't need to be paid for the care that they do. But of course they should be paid for the care that they do. We don't means test jobseekers payments. At a time of when we are in full employment we carry out reviews at a level of 12,000 per annum on carers looking after their elderly or vulnerable children in their own homes saving this state 20 billion and we are reviewing them at a rate five times more than that of jobseekers. People who we say could have jobs if they went out and looked for them. But yet we will not pay the people who saved the state 20 billion and again as my colleague said, that is not a figure that I made up, that is a figure that comes from proper PhD researchers in Maynooth College paid for by Family Carers Ireland. Minister, it is incredulous that you can sit there and I understand why you are not looking at me. I wouldn't be able to look at me either if I was 49 times standing up here saying the same thing. We have people who give up their jobs to save this state money. And we carry out a test on the people who they may or may not have a relationship with but who happen to reside in the same household. And we know that a little over two thirds of them are women and a third are men. But the reality, and I think everyone knows it, if it was the other way around and we had two thirds men carers would be paid, there would be no means test. It would be as simple as that. But because they are women who primarily spend all of their time doing what they do, they have little time to advocate for the means test abolition. But I am advocating for it since I was elected for the simple reason that they appear at my door or I go and visit them in their homes and I see what they do 24-7. I have mentioned on this floor many times one carer who is the mother of four very disabled children, intellectually and physically. Four and she is in receipt of one and a half carers allowance. Some maybe 400 euros a week. And she has no life. As she says she provides the physio, the occupational therapy, the speech language therapy, everything that would be provided if the state had to look after them. And probably is in a state saving of little over a million euros for carrying out that function. So it is beyond me that as this doll comes to an end that we are still standing here pleading with government. And I do recognise the inroads that you have made. I just do not understand why we are penalising people who do a state service for everybody and save the taxpayer 20 billion euros. So I rest my case, Chair. I am very disappointed that this has not happened in the lifetime of this government and I certainly hope, whether I am back here or not, that it will be prioritised by the next government. Thank you.
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