Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-22
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Callaghan for raising this issue and bringing people into this debate because this is a real issue and we want to support carers right across this country. Carers are doing incredible work. They are also saving this State an absolute fortune and I acknowledge that as well.
I am pleased to say that the programme for Government commitment we have given to abolish the means test over the lifetime of the Government is well under way. The last budget saw the largest ever increase in the carer's allowance income disregard, so we have taken a very strong and important start in relation to that. We significantly increased the income disregard for carer's allowance and we intend to do that in each budget. The pace at which we do it will be a matter for each individual budget, but that is how we will get to our programme for Government commitment. From July last year, the amount of weekly earnings disregard was increased to €625 for a single person and €1,250 for a couple. The budget then built on that with further improvements to the means test, which will be introduced from this July. They will see the income disregard increase by 60% for a single person, from €625 to €1,000, and, as Deputy rightly said, from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers who are part of a couple. We intend to build on that and continue to support our carers and fulfil our programme for Government commitment to abolish the means test over the lifetime of the Government.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-22