In any public forum that I have had the privilege of being in or elected to over the years, I have always promoted and supported the role of carers. They give people the privilege of living in their own homes where they are happiest in general. In purely clinical and cold economic terms, they save the State phenomenal money in terms of the cost of institutionalisation. It is for that reason that I wish to suggest strongly, in light of recent discussions around the Revenue Commissioners’ flagging of the carer’s allowance into the future, that the carer’s allowance should be exempt from taxation. It should be exempt. The actual quantum of money would be small but irrespective of that, that stress and extraction of money should not be the case because if it is a source of taxation, it is minimising the benefit for the carer. A lot of people leave potentially lucrative situations and make difficult personal decisions to become full-time carers. It is a very honourable and wonderful thing to do. It is transformative for the lives of the people for whom they care. Through my family and my wife’s work, I have an intimate knowledge of this whole area. I am asking the Leader to convey strongly to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Harris, and the Cabinet the view that we should not be taxing carers on their allowance. In fact, we should be celebrating them and looking for every budgetary opportunity to increase their allowance.