Dara Calleary

I assure the Deputy that we will continue the work of recent Governments in terms of supporting the work of carers, which we feel is very important. We have already discussed this morning the increases in the income disregard, the weekly increase to carer's allowance and carer's benefit and the increase in the carer's support grant. Since January, the carer's allowance is now included as a qualif…

I do not think anyone here would disagree with the Deputy's assessment. I will ask my Department to do a lot of work on the supports that are available to carers. They are often so engaged in giving the care that they do not have the chance to know of the full supports that exist, many of which are not mean tested, including the carer's support grant, carer's benefit, the domiciliary care allowanc…

Go raibh maith ag an Teachta agus tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go seasaimid le daoine faoi mhíchumas agus is rud an-tábhachtach don Rialtas nua é go mbeidh athruithe sa chuidiú sa Roinn Coimirce Sóisialaí do dhaoine atá faoi mhíchumas. My Department already provides a range of income and employment supports to people with disabilities. These include payments such as the disability allowance, th…

I thank the Deputy. This is a key priority for the Government. The Taoiseach convened a meeting on Monday to discuss support across government for people with disabilities. About seven Ministers were present at that meeting. The Department of Social Protection commissioned Indecon to research issues around the cost of disability. Indecon's report was published in 2021. It identified the additiona…

I thank Deputies Ó Cearúil and Ó Murchú for raising this. I agree with them on housing. We will bring that to the Minister, Deputy Browne for attention. Deputy Ó Murchú raised the reasonable accommodation fund. My Department published a review of that scheme in 2023 and we have made changes. The new scheme offers seven supports to help reduce and remove barriers in the workplace for people with di…

I thank the Deputy for his good wishes. I acknowledge him for his work in this area, and also that of my immediate predecessor, Heather Humphreys who was committed to the newborn baby grant of €280, which was announced in budget 2025 and was paid to families of babies born on or after 1 December 2024. Taken together with the normal first month’s child benefit of €140 parents of newborns will recei…

Everything with the Department of public expenditure is hard in terms of negotiations. I agree with the Deputy that this is an important payment at what is a happy time, but which can also be a stressful time in terms of a new arrival. It can also be an expensive time. It is important that we support families and give them the best start at the very start. My Department is certainly committed to d…

Addressing child poverty is a key priority for the Government and the Taoiseach has made it clear to me in my appointment that he wants this prioritised. As the Deputy has said, one of the commitments in the programme for Government is to explore a targeted child benefit payment and examine the interaction that would have with existing targeted supports to reduce child poverty, including the worki…

I thank the Deputy and formally congratulate him on his election. I look forward to working with him. The newborn baby grant of €280 was announced in budget 2025 and is paid to families of babies born on or after 1 December 2024. This grant is paid alongside, but in addition to, the first month’s child benefit payment of €140. Parents of newborns will receive a total first payment of €420. The ben…

The introduction of this payment is a highly popular initiative of the Department. Unfortunately, we cannot backdate payments ten years or longer in these cases. On the question of a potential payment at the other end of the spectrum, we are certainly open to any suggestions in the context of the budget, although that process will not get under way for a while. We have made changes in respect of c…

Again, we will look at all issues and proposals in the context of budget 2026, which will be delivered later this year. At the moment, our priority is to get these payments out and to get work on child poverty very much under way within the Department in the context of programme for Government commitments. We are looking at targeted child benefit payments and how these would interact with existing…

I thank the Deputy. I really appreciate her raising this issue today. This is something I will be focused on. A specific nutritional standard was set for school meals. This is based on the Food Safety Authority of Ireland food-based dietary recommendations for healthy eating. These were developed by a technical working group led by the health and well-being programme of the Department of Health, S…

I do not want catch-all phrases. We cannot do that any more. That day is gone. I want to see what people are eating. There are also students with different dietary needs and we are not in a good space to account for those needs if we are using catch-all phrases. This is something I will look at. I have asked for full information on the audit process and what is involved in it because, like the Dep…

I disagree with very little of what the Deputy said. I will certainly look at that. This year we will introduce a pilot project based on the Department of Education's summer programme to ensure that schools that are eligible for the school meals programme will be able to make meals available for the summer programme. That will support approximately 40,000 of the most vulnerable children who have c…

I thank the Deputy. I formally congratulate him on his election and welcome him back to Leinster House. The carer's allowance is the main scheme by which my Department provides income support to the very important work done by carers in the community. The primary objective of the carer's allowance payment is to provide an income support to those carers whose earning capacity is substantially redu…

There is a range of costs. The figure of €3 billion only arises in the context of everybody who self-declared as a carer in 2022 census qualifying. Even if only 70% of those carers were to qualify, the cost would go up to approximately €2 billion. The very important work done by carers is recognised. It has been recognised consistently by this Government and the previous one. We have made substan…

A lot of points have been raised. I ask the Deputy to come back to me on the last issue he raised. I assure all Deputies that we are very focused on the work done by carers, which is incredibly important. As I said earlier, it should be work done across the Oireachtas, not just in the committee on social protection but also the health committee. It is the Government's intention, over its lifetime…

Gabhaim buíochas le gach Teachta as a gcuid óráidí inniu. I thank Deputies who have spoken for their engagement in recent weeks on direct cases. That engagement will continue. We are now in the stage where we can look back at the storm and learn lessons from it. Many Deputies have put forward good suggestions this evening, which will be taken on board because, unfortunately, the precedent, as I s…

I hear his concerns with regard to farming and small businesses in particular. With regard to the humanitarian assistance scheme, to date, the community welfare service of the Department of Social Protection has issued more than 5,000 stage 1 payments, totalling almost €1 million, to people who at the time their application was approved did not have any power or water supply following Storm Éowyn…

I have been across County Mayo and across the country in recent weeks and I have seen at first hand, as many colleagues have, the very devastating real effects of Storm Éowyn on communities and families throughout the country. I assure people in every community, in rural and in urban areas, that we are working hard and doing all we can to get their power, water and communications back up and runni…

This is my first time since my appointment to address the House in this form - I spoke earlier on the storm debate - so I thank Deputies for their good wishes. I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on her election and Deputy Buckley on his re-election. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am sorry to hear about the case he described. As he will know, in some of its laws, the State distinguis…