Thank you. I now call Deputy Tom Fleming.

Twenty minutes, now.

I have called Deputy Fleming.

The Carers Association, which represents 187,000 carers in this country attended a meeting with Oireachtas Members on 19 May. The main item on the agenda was the national strategy report for carers and the slow progress being made on the report which was first planned and published in 2012. There are some 42 actions recommended in the strategy, but many of them remain untouched. Several Departments are involved in the implementation of the strategy, including the Departments of Social Protection, Health, Justice and Equality, the Environment, etc. Departments across the board are involved.

The report is now entering its third year.

The recent assessment highlighted the slow rate of progress of this plan. It also indicated that it has produced mixed results to date, with some Departments making good progress, others making none and some taking regressive actions.

Some of the issues highlighted included the transition arrangements for carers who are exiting their caring role. The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has yet to engage with the strategy in terms of how it treats people leaving the role of carer and supports them in returning to the workforce.

The limit on the number of hours recipients of carer's allowance, carer's benefit and the respite care grant are permitted to engage in training is currently set at 15 hours per week. That must be extended to at least 20 hours.

Hear, hear.

That limit is preventing many family carers upskilling with a view to returning to the workforce, but there has been no movement on that.

The removal of the bereavement grant shows a lack of awareness of the significant cost on families on the death of their loved ones. The solution offered, namely, asking family carers to apply for an exceptional needs payment at a distressing time in their lives where there is a personal loss and they are vulnerable, shows a lack of understanding of their emotions. That lack of understanding is at odds with the goals of the strategy.

A question, please, Deputy.

I stress the importance of providing affordable options for families to provide care to their loved ones and allow them live in their own homes. A typical example is the housing grant scheme, which is administered by county councils. The mobility aid grant is an essential piece of the jigsaw in allowing people to live in their own homes but funding for that grant has been halved from €79 million in 2011 to just €38 million in 2014. Further changes to the scheme announced in January 2014 will mean that even fewer people are now eligible.

The 19% cut to the respite care grant imposed in the budget of 2014 was regressive. That payment is given to allow family carers take a much needed break from their round the clock caring but in reality it is also used for respite from financial worries and a number of other hidden costs such as medical, electricity and ancillary costs. The failure to reverse the 19% cut in the budget for 2015 was most disappointing.

Hear, hear.

I ask the Tánaiste and her fellow Ministers to get back to the drawing board, address the matters I have raised and enhance what is needed to be enhanced in the forthcoming budget. Some of these matters could be addressed immediately if the windfall was available.

I thank the Deputy for his remarks on the work carers do. All of us at one stage or another have been carers. It is vitally important work, particularly in some cases where people have lifelong disabilities. I refer to children in particular but also in other cases when people we know and love are coming to the end of their lives or getting through a serious illness.

I am happy to say that I had a lengthy discussion with both the Carers Association and Age Action Ireland yesterday morning in my office. A number of the issues the Deputy touched upon were discussed by myself and the senior officials dealing with these matters in the Department of Social Protection and with representatives and leadership of the Carers Association and of Age Action Ireland.

The Deputy mentioned a number of issues, one of which is something we are very aware of, namely, what happens to somebody who has been a carer but the person they were caring for either no longer requires care or, in many cases, may have passed on. As the Minister I am anxious to begin to put in place a framework that would assist carers in that position. Already, as the Deputy knows, many organisations, not just the Carers Association but also an organisation that is prominent in his county of Kerry, the Alzheimer's Association, provide a good deal of training and information to people who are caring to help them care for themselves. It is important that carers care for themselves.

I said yesterday that I propose to examine the establishment of an after carers package that would allow people who have come out of caring hold on to the carer's allowance for six weeks following which they would be able, as they wish, to begin to access the different schemes and opportunities in education and training available from my Department. I invited the Carers Association representatives to come back to me with specific proposals they might have in that area. For instance, we might consider a number of pilot schemes, which is something in which I have long been interested.

The Deputy also mentioned the issue of the hours spent caring in a week, which was raised yesterday also. I undertook to have my officials examine that because I would be anxious about a situation where somebody is spending a lot of time caring, including in the evening and at night. The Deputy's suggestion is that people would be encouraged to take up more part-time work, but I would like to examine that. It may make sense in particular cases but I would be concerned about somebody taking up a lot of work and then coming home to care for someone who requires a very high level of care because it is a condition of the carer's allowance that people have to undertake care over and above the norm. I would be concerned that people would not over burden themselves because the carer's allowance is meant to provide people with some income support. However, I undertook to examine it and both organisations said they would come back to us. I will await that response.

Regarding this year's budget, I am happy to say that the carers would have benefited from the improvement in the Christmas bonus and the people they are caring for, who in many cases are family members, would also have benefited from the Christmas bonus. People being cared for who are disabled and live alone would also have benefited from the first increase in the living alone allowance in a very long time.

The number of carers estimated by the Carers Association is 187,000, which I believe is a conservative figure. At least another 100,000 are indirectly engaged in caring in some capacity or another. That brings the figure up to almost 300,000 people engaged in caring. That is a huge resource that we cannot underestimate, and the cost-benefit savings to the State from that resource are enormous; it is worth millions of euro.

Allied to that is the people in the voluntary sector engaged in running day care centres who play an active role in that regard. That is essential for the provision of care to infirm and disabled people who can live in their own homes, among their families and communities, which is when they are happiest. It prevents them having to seek long-term care in residential homes, for instance. We need to prioritise many of these issues, which have been forgotten. There should be proper funding from the HSE and other Departments for day care centres.

There are not enough home help hours in the quota of hours allowed by the southern region. In my county, Kerry, thousands of letters have been sent to homes stating that home help hours are being drastically reduced in some cases, and it is wrong. I recently received a letter from the Taoiseach and the HSE stating that the same amount is available as in 2014. In response, I raised the matter earlier. It is not adequate or sufficient, given that extra people are coming on the list for home help. Although it is a wonderful service provided by great people, there is no point in providing half an hour in the morning and three quarters of an hour in the evening. The Government is providing smaller cuts of the cake. It needs to enlarge the cake, given that more people are coming on board. The answer I received, that the same funding is available as last year, is not good enough. It is not satisfactory. I ask the Tánaiste to go to the Cabinet, the Minister for Health and the HSE and seriously examine and address the matter.

This is why I, as Minister for Social Protection, place so much significance on the carer's allowance and benefit, which allow significant numbers of people to get an income from the Department of Social Protection in the context of their being carers. Although they are for the most part full-time carers, some time ago we introduced the half-rate carer's allowance so that people who are already in receipt of another social welfare payment can get an additional payment in recognition of the major job that carers do in providing care for people.

The provision of day care services is very important, particularly for families with children who are in need of care. For older people, we have community centres around the country, many of which are significantly assisted by the social programmes of the Department of Social Protection and schemes such as community employment, CE, and Tús. I have had the privilege of going around the country and visiting centres. It is good that whether one is in Kerry or Leitrim, one can get transport and go to many of the very good local centres a couple of times a week, perhaps have lunch, meet one's friends, play cards and have a bit of entertainment, play bingo. All of it is incredibly important to people's quality of life, particularly older people. As the economy recovers and as we have less budgetary pressure, I would like to prioritise carers.

This morning, I met members of the Carers Association at length and I will meet them again shortly, along with all the other care organisations, and we will examine innovations. We are using the community support programme and budget of the Department to help many people who need support and to give the carers a break when people use the services. Shortly, we will pay the respite care grant to carers around the country.

The Minister reduced the respite care grant.

In prioritising the budget, people stressed to me over and over again that the previous Government cut the weekly carer's payment by €16.40. We have not reached the point at which it is possible to fund a full restoration of it.

Will the Minister restore the respite care grant?

We made a start with the Christmas bonus and there is partial restoration this year. We hope, as the economic recovery progresses, to be able to do more.

We live in hope.

Following my discussions, I will examine particularly the social protection areas.

The Tánaiste might use the money from the sale of Aer Lingus.

I take into account the issue of providing home help hours, which is a major worry for families. It is the subject of part of the national carers strategy and an inspection system is being established to ensure that, in so far as possible, the service is of good quality, which it is. My Department is also focusing on helping to train and gain FETAC level qualifications in caring in such services.