247. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will give a commitment in the upcoming budget to eliminate and publish a definitive timeline to abolish the carer's allowance means test. [65993/26]

The Carer’s Allowance is the main scheme by which the Department provides income support to carers. At the end of August there were just under 111,000 carers receiving this payment.

The Programme for Government has set out a timeline which commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget, with a view to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of this Government.

This process is well underway. As part of Budget 2026, I announced significant improvements to the means test that were introduced in early July 2026. The weekly income disregard increased by 60% from €625 to €1,000 for a single person, and from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers who are part of couple.

These are the largest ever increases in the income disregards mean that a carer in a two-adult household with an income of €110,000 will retain their full Carer’s Allowance payment and receive a partial payment with a household income up to €138,000. This accounts for up to 90% of couple households in the State. In addition, almost 2,700 Carer’s Allowance recipients received higher rates of payment. Virtually all carers receiving Carer’s Allowance are now paid the maximum rate available.

Removing the means test entirely represents a significant policy shift and there may be further implications beyond the cost alone. For this reason the means test is being abolished in a measured way over the lifetime of the Government.

The improvements delivered to date demonstrate the Government’s determination to meet its commitment to phase out the Carer's Allowance means test over the course of this Dáil term. Any further improvements to the means test will be considered in an overall budgetary and policy context as part of Budget 2027 having regard to overall welfare improvements.