An extensive suite of measures is needed to address the financial precarity of caring, according to Social Democrats social protection spokesperson Eoin Hayes.
Deputy Hayes said:
“Thousands of carers have been forced to cut back on heating and eating in order to provide for some of our most vulnerable people. The cost of care has become unmanageable.
“Family Carers Ireland State of Caring report shows one in seven adults in Ireland are carers, and almost half of them suffer from severe loneliness. Over 70% of carers find it difficult to make ends meet.
“Nearly half of all carers have cut back on food or heat – this is a stark indictment of the State’s level of support for carers, who play an essential role in our society.
“To start, the Government’s refusal to introduce a €400 targeted energy credit for vulnerable households struggling to heat their homes is inexcusable. Nobody should go without the bare essentials because their role as a carer is financially prohibitive.
“Almost two-thirds of carers have been on a waiting list for publicly funded services such as therapies, wheelchairs, or Assessments of Need, with 66% of those waiting more than a year. Lives are put on hold while the State fails to do its job.
“To alleviate the extreme burden that is being shouldered by carers, the Government must abolish the carer’s allowance means test as it promised to in its programme for government in its forthcoming budget. It must also consider other measures in how we financially support carers. So much more needs to be done.
“There are now more than 320,000 electricity accounts in arrears – a €400 energy credit for households with incomes of less than €70,000 would help ease the burden of soaring electricity bills for disabled people, pensioners and family carers.
“The Government has left behind people in fixed-income roles while costs continue to skyrocket – carers are bearing the brunt of this trend more than anyway. The State has refused to recognise their work as work, to give them dignity in that work.
“Unless the Coalition radically alters its approach to carers, more and more of these essential workers will fall into poverty. This is an abhorrent way to treat carers, who are the best of us.”
June 9th, 2026