2025-11-27

Deputy Smyth is a representative of a Border constituency, the same as I am, so she will very much understand this particular issue. A constituent of mine called Majella contacted me. She was born in Leitrim and lived there practically all of her life. She started her career working in the health services. Then she married a man from Fermanagh and moved six miles up the road. She continued to cross the Border every day to work and worked all her life. Now her mother has become ill towards the end of her life and needs care. Majella got carer's benefit based on the stamps she had accumulated during her working life. However, after 104 weeks she was told to apply for the carer's allowance, which is not stamps based but assessed. When she applied she was refused because of the habitual residency condition as she does not live within the State. This is very unfair. It is an anomaly that comes up for a tiny number of people in certain circumstances who are living in the Border area. People in these circumstances are not travelling 50 or 100 miles to care for somebody. It is only people in a small corridor that this would affect. In that context, resolving this issue would not result in a big cost to the State. This needs to happen as quickly as possible.

I agree with my party colleague that given the Minister of State's position as a representative of a Border county, she will be more familiar with this issue than some in the House. Not that one would guess it from listening to me, but I also grew up in a Border town and I know that people who live along the Border do not recognise it in the same way as those who live elsewhere because they go back and forth across the Border all of the time. In response to a parliamentary question, I was told that there are only three people resident in the North who are in receipt of carer's benefit at this point. We are not talking about massive numbers here. There are no floodgates opening or anything like that coming down the line. This is also about the fact that the people taking on caring responsibilities are saving the State an absolute fortune. This woman is caring for her mother and then going home to where she lives, which is only up the road. I am interested in hearing what the Department is prepared to do about this. In our view, it is amenable to resolution by statutory instrument. I ask the Minister of State to request this of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, who is aware of this issue. As I understand it, there is no hostility towards resolving it; the question is whether we can. As it stands, people who have worked all of their lives and paid stamps are now falling foul of the habitual residency rule. It is very simple. For the purposes of habitual residency, the island should be regarded as one. I am not trying to make a massively political point but it would make sense to regard the island as one. However, there is also a need to resolve these individual cases as well as getting the resolution for us into the future.

I thank the Deputies. I am delighted, as Deputies Kenny and O'Reilly are, that when we live in a Border county like Monaghan and Cavan, we can cross over the jurisdiction. That invisible crossing happens many times. A person could be living 1 mile up the road and be in a different jurisdiction. Deputy Kenny was quite right when he said carers are never going to be living a million miles away from the person they are caring for. I would imagine it could be easily managed. I take the point. I understand the Minister, Deputy Calleary, is very familiar with this and is open and compassionate about the issue. He will certainly be open to trying to resolve this. I thank both Deputies for raising this important issue. The Government acknowledges the vital role that family carers play in Irish society - that goes without saying - and remains fully committed to supporting them in the role they do. This commitment is reflected both in the programme for Government and in the recent budget, and the Department of Social Protection provides a comprehensive range of income supports for family carers. In 2026, spending on these supports is expected to exceed €2.2 billion, with almost 104,000 carers currently receiving carer's allowance payment. Carer’s allowance is the main scheme through which the Department provides income support to carers in the community. There is no money that would pay them enough for the work that they do. It is so valuable. The allowance only acknowledges, in some small way, how valued they are. It is a means-tested social assistance payment for people on low incomes who are providing full-time care to someone who requires ongoing support due to age, disability or illness. The person being cared for must require full-time care and attention. As part of budget 2026, we are increasing the income disregard for a single person to €1,000 per week and for a couple to €2,000 per week. These are the largest ever increases to the carer’s allowance income disregard and will mean that even households with relatively high incomes will qualify for a carer’s payment for the first time. Like all social assistance schemes provided by the Department of Social Protection, carer’s allowance is subject to a habitual residency requirement, which requires the carer to have habitual residence in the Irish State. Where a carer resides in Northern Ireland, they cannot qualify for the carer’s allowance because they do not meet that particular condition or tick that box. Carers residing in the North of Ireland may be eligible for the non-means-tested carer’s allowance payment but in the particular case Deputy Kenny quite rightly mentioned, the carer has already exceeded that. This scheme is payable to carers over 16 who are providing full-time care of at least 35 hours per week to someone who is in need of care and is in receipt of a specified payment. To answer the Deputy's question as directly as I can, he has referred to a very specific case. Deputy O'Reilly has a given very low number in terms of the number of people it affects. As I said, my understanding is that the Minister is open to providing a way to give that allowance and to seeking a resolution to this. I will reflect the case study the Deputy has presented here and ask the Minister to consider it further.

I thank the Minister of State. I am aware of all of these circumstances. Yes, there is a payment in the North but the person who is living in the North and can apply for the carer's benefit in the North has to be caring for a person in that jurisdiction.

It is the same problem.

The fact that they live in two different jurisdictions, although they are only a couple of miles apart, is what gives rise to this peculiarity. This is a carer's case. There are other similar cases where habitual residency comes into play which may affect people's pensions and things like that on both sides of the Border. These are small numbers. We are talking about dozens of people in total. It is something that should be looked at across the whole social welfare code to see if a number of small statutory instruments or amendments can be put in to deal with these circumstances and to sort them out for the people involved. As I say, they are very small numbers. We are talking about people who have, generally, paid into the State because they have been working on this side of the Border. As we know, many people live in the South and work in the North, or live in the North and work in the South. It happens all the time up and down across the Border region. Sometimes, people have two jobs - one in the North and one in the South. It depends on those circumstances. In all of those situations, all we need to do is put something into the regulation that takes care of the problem we have and deals with it efficiently and effectively. This can be done very speedily. I ask the Minister to look at it between now and Christmas and come up with something to resolve the situation before the new year. Go raibh maith agaibh.

Very briefly, to echo the sentiment expressed by my colleague, this impacts a number of social welfare payments but in real life the numbers are tiny. I sent in a parliamentary question about it. I did not expect the numbers would be big. I did not think they would be as low as three but that is where we are at. We are not talking about big numbers but these people are paying into a system. If this cannot be facilitated, then the mother does not get to be cared for by her daughter, which is her choice, and then someone is going to have to care for her. At the end of the day, a bill is coming one way or the other. It strikes me that the person themselves, the elderly person in this instance, has a right to chose their carer. The carer is available and the only crime that anyone has committed is living 3 miles or 4 miles up the road.

She married the wrong man-----

I am not getting into that.

-----on the wrong side of the Border.

She married a Fermanagh man now so that is where she is at. In all seriousness, it is something that will not take the Minister a long time. These are cases that are very real and very live now so I would appreciate if, when Deputy Smyth brings this back to the Minister, she could emphasise that we are talking about small numbers, statutory instruments, co-operation from the Opposition and possibly getting this resolved by Christmas if we could.

I will not commit to it being resolved by Christmas but as we all work and strive towards a united Ireland, this is a very pragmatic request and we should take a very pragmatic approach to it. As I said, I will certainly reflect the views of the Deputies, the particular instances they have outlined today and the facts they have to back them up regarding the small numbers in question that we have to address. Going back to Deputy Kenny's point, we need to look at this broadly in terms of social protection. There are probably a number of payments that are affecting a very small number of people. As we work towards that united Ireland, we should certainly look at this in a pragmatic way.

I thank the Deputies.