Budget 2027
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

Carer’s allowance is the main income support for carers. Some 111,000 people are receiving the payment, with an estimated investment of over €1.4 billion this year. Carer's benefit is a weekly social insurance-based payment for those who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to provide full-time care. At the end of August, there were 5,136 recipients of carer's benefit, with an investment of over €76 million this year.
The programme for Government commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for carer’s allowance, with a commitment to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of this Government. It is not possible to do everything we might like to do in one year. Each year, I have to balance the value of any individual measure, no matter how much I support it, against other equally merited measures. However, as the Deputy will agree, the process of addressing the means test for carer’s allowance is well under way.
As part of budget 2026, and with effect from July, we increased the weekly income disregard by 60% from €625 to €1,000 from €625 for a single person and from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers who are part of a couple. These disregards are now by far the highest in the social welfare system. The changes mean that a carer in a two-adult household with an income of €110,000 can retain their full carer’s allowance payment or can receive a partial payment where the household income is up to €138,000. One consequence of this change is that virtually everyone on an existing payment on the scheme is receiving the maximum weekly rate.
In line with the carer’s allowance income disregard for a single person, the earnings limit for carer’s benefit was also increased in July to €1,000 per week. As discussed earlier, we are involved with budget negotiations. This is a very solid programme for Government commitment which I have made considerable progress on. I am determined to see it through.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24