Social Welfare Payments

7. Deputy Seamus Healy asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will increase the annual carer's support grant. [67666/26]

Will the Minister will increase the carer's support grant in the forthcoming budget in two weeks' time?

I acknowledge the Deputy as one who has constantly and consistently championed this issue. As I said, we have consistently improved our support for carers and €2.2 billion will be provided for carer's income supports in 2026. The carer's allowance is the main income support payment for family carers. Over 111,000 people are receiving the payment at an estimated cost of more than €1.4 billion. The carer's support grant is automatically paid to people in receipt of carer's allowance, carer's benefit and domiciliary care allowance. Other carers who are not in receipt of a carer's payment may also be eligible for the grant. A separate grant is paid for each person being cared for. The grant was increased by €150 to €2,000 in June 2025, which is the highest ever level. In June of this year, over 147,000 carers perceived the grant. The grant is not means-tested and is non-taxable. The estimated investment in the grant in 2026 was over €364 million. We are continuing to accept applications for the grant so anyone who may have an entitlement can make an application through his or her local office or through mywelfare.ie. In the context of budget 2027, we are continuing to negotiate our budget with the Department of public expenditure. We will have a package for carers within that programme but we have not finalised our discussions yet. They will be announced on budget day on 6 October.

As the Minister knows, caring is a very onerous responsibility. It is often a 24-7, 365-day-a-year operation. Surveys by carers have shown that 75% of carers receive no respite whatsoever and the grant itself has been eaten up by inflation not to mention the cost of living over the past number of years. If we look at the past number of years from 2021, we can see that there has only been one year of an increase in the carer's support grant and that was €150 in 2025 and was, of course, in advance of the general election in November 2024. There was no increase in the grant in 2026. Family Carers Ireland is looking for an increase of €150, which is a very modest increase that, in fact, does not keep up with inflation and does not take into account the cost of living. It is a very modest request and I ask the Minister to include it in the budget.

We are engaging around it. Given that the carer's support grant is not means-tested and is non-taxable, it is very important signal. That grant has increased by €300 since 2021. If we look at the rates of change in carer's benefit and carer's allowance in January 2022, we can see that carer's allowance was €224 a week in January 2022 and went to €270 and that carer's benefit has gone from €225 to €271. We are also investing considerably in the weekly payment that is given to carers. There have been a lot of changes in the carer's support grant over a number of years and we will continue to focus on it. The current rate is the highest rate ever and I think the highest number of people are in receipt of that payment. What I would say to all Deputies is that there is no closing date for applications for it and if there are people engaging with their offices, who are not getting it, please put them in contact with us. Over 147,000 carers have received the carer's support grant to date in 2026 out of an investment over €364 million. It was paid on 4 June and since that date, over 5,000 people have actually applied and qualified for the grant.

The Minister is not giving away much in his reply. The request by Family Carers Ireland is very modest. It certainly does not keep up with inflation and it certainly does not take the cost-of-living crisis into account. An increase of €150 on €2,000 is not a big request. For a very small amount of money, it does a particular amount of good and gives carers the opportunity to have a slight rest and a recharge of their batteries, so I hope that the Minister would see a way to do that in the budget.

I assure the Deputy that we are very much focused on carers. If he thinks I am not giving away much, he should talk to the Minister for public expenditure. We are working hard in this space. In 2026, we invested €2.2 billion in carer's support payments, which is a really solid indication of where we are going on this. We pay the carer's support grant on 4 June every year, or the first Thursday in June every year. Since then, which is maybe less than three months ago, an additional 5,000 people have come into payment. I will ask my Department to do a bit of awareness-building that this grant is available. A lot of people who may be entitled to it may not realise they can draw it down without a means test. We are going to do some work on that. Most of us in this room would be a very effective channel of communicating that availability to people. We had a discussion earlier. We need to make more information available to people. We have a lot of schemes, and this is one of them. I am pretty sure we will do that.