Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-06-10 ============================================================ Holly Cairns (SD), Cork South-West I condemn the horrific attack in Belfast on Monday. Our thoughts are with the victim and his family. I also condemn the racist attacks last night and join others in calling for an end to the violence. I will talk to the Taoiseach today about the extreme pressure family carers are under. Some 71% are now struggling to make ends meet, according to the recent Family Carers Ireland report. Nearly half are experiencing extreme loneliness, are desperate for support that never comes and are feeling like their world is shrinking. This is an indictment of the Taoiseach's Government. The State, which should be there to help them, is actually making their lives harder and pushing an increasing number of carers into poverty. That is the grim reality. Imagine how frustrating it is for those carers to hear this Government's repeated claims that it values their work as they are forced to pay out-of-pocket for essential equipment and therapies that should be provided by the State. They are forced to jump through endless hoops just to qualify for carer's allowance and are living in constant fear that a new review or a new assessment will push them just over the threshold leaving them with nothing - no financial support and no services. Catherine Rossiter, who cares for her 12-year-old twins, Aoife and Eoghan, launched this report with Family Carers Ireland. She said: I often think my life is a test of human endurance. How much can I take as a carer before I break? What will happen to my young daughter and son then? The worry feels endless. This is the reality for so many carers across the country. They are exhausted, drained and filled with dread when they think about the future. The vast majority of carers in this position are women. They are saving the State billions of euro every year and what are they getting in return? Loneliness, burn-out and poverty. The Government has a growing reputation for making commitments and abandoning them. It committed to abolishing the means test for carers. Carers have had enough of empty promises, so will the Government keep this one? There is no excuse not to do so. We can afford it. It would cost €266 million, according to the report by the Parliamentary Budget Office. It could be paid for by tripling the bank levy on banks earning record profits, with money left over to invest in services. Will the Government abolish the means test for carers in the forthcoming budget? Will it give carers that reassurance of making that commitment to them now? --- 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/2026-06-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-10