Social Welfare Eligibility
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-18
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Seamus Healy (IND), Tipperary South

Every political party, including Fianna Fáil, made a commitment in general election 2024 to abolish the carer's means test, full stop, no ifs or buts. There were no terms and conditions. There was no small print and no devil in the detail. The Government was going to abolish the means test for carer's allowance, but it has not honoured that commitment. That raises the whole question of trust in politics and politicians. The public are becoming quite cynical now about all things political.
The Minister has another opportunity to do the right thing on 1 July. He is already making some changes, which are welcome. However, it still leaves one third of carers above the threshold of the means test. The Government has the funds available. The cost ranges from about €259 million to the figure the Minister has used, which is €600 million. The Parliamentary Budget Office says €259 million. The Government has a €9.2 billion surplus in budget 2026. The Minister has the opportunity and the funds. He should do the right thing and show the Government's bona fides to carers on 1 July.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-18