Mayo appeal to honour pre-election commitment made to carers

Mayo TD Rose Conway-Walsh has said that the incoming government must honour commitments made to carers and abolish the carers allowance means test.

The Erris-based representative outlined: “In the weeks leading up to the election both Micheál Martin and Simon Harris both stated their commitment to abolishing the means test.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will be the lead partners of the next government, so I am calling on them as one of their first actions to indicate a timeframe for getting rid of the means test for Carers Allowance.

“Sinn Féin led the way with our announcement that if in government we would scrap this miserable means test.

“During the election campaign both government parties copied Sinn Féin’s proposal and both the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael manifestos stated a commitment to abolish the means. They now need to make good on their promise.

“I am determined to stick up for our family carers, they have been extremely poorly treated by successive governments despite the work that they do in caring for their vulnerable loved ones enabling people to remain in their own homes and communities and thereby saving the state the costs of residential care.

“Family Carers Ireland research indicates that carers save the state €20 billion by providing 19 million hours of unpaid care each week.

“Carers deserve a universal entitlement to the Carers Allowance payment.

"If Sinn Féin was in government they would already have received a €400 lump sum payment and a cast iron guarantee that the means test would be abolished.

“The incoming government needs to prove that their promises have substance and were not just empty words to gain advantage with voters.

“One of the first actions of the incoming government must be to abolish the Carers Allowance means test.”