I have just come from the Family Carers Ireland briefing across the road. In their own words, this is a group that is relied upon but not listened to. I listened to the testimony of Lynsey O'Donovan from Swords who is the carer of her son Jack. They do not want praise or platitudes, they want action. Their prebudget submission has been launched and I am sure the Tánaiste and his Government colleagues will see it. The Labour Party wants to ask about a key area of this, which is carer's allowance. Carer's allowance is outdated. It undervalues care work. It is inadequate in terms of the cost-of-living crisis. It forces carers to be financially dependent on their partners should they have one and it discourages employment. In this time of plenty, will the Government commit not only to an increase in carer's allowance and carer's benefit but a fundamental reform of the payment and how it is structured and administered?

I thank Deputy Smith for raising this issue. We are all aware of the work that carers do. However, the Department is about giving people a basic income. We increased in last year's budget the means test threshold for the carer's allowance so that more people are able to benefit from it. In fact, we increased it to €750, which is the highest it has ever been. We will continue to review the means test. There is a broader discussion to be had on how we compensate carers for the work that they do. We have to have this conversation and there is no doubt about it. It will involve a number of Departments. I hear what Deputy Smith is saying and, of course, we will look at all of these things in the context of the budget in terms of the basic payment that we provide from the Department.