{"id":13674,"date":"2025-09-30T12:29:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T11:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=13674"},"modified":"2025-09-30T12:29:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T11:29:54","slug":"social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The D\u00e1il will debate a Social Democrats\u2019 motion on Wednesday (October 1) calling for the abolition of the means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance in next week\u2019s Budget.<\/p>\n

Liam Quaide TD, who is the party\u2019 spokesperson on social protection, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cPre-budget kite-flying by the government over the weekend suggests there will be modest increases in income disregards for Carer\u2019s Allowance. However, this will not resolve the underlying unfairness of the means test, which leaves many carers ineligible for support.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur motion is seeking the complete abolition of the means test, effective from January 1, 2026. This would be long overdue recognition for the extraordinary contribution of carers who provide full-time care to family members with disabilities, chronic illnesses or age-related needs \u2013 often at considerable personal, financial and emotional cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily carers play a critical role in the Irish care system, providing unpaid labour that saves the State more than \u20ac20 billion every year; preventing avoidable hospital admissions; and enabling many people to remain safely in their own homes and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut despite their immense contribution to this country, thousands of carers are affected by social and financial hardship, with many experiencing isolation, stress and difficulty balancing caring responsibilities with paid employment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith care responsibilities falling disproportionately on women, the means test results in blatant gender inequality. The State is effectively sending a message to women that their work is not real unless their household is poor enough. This reinforces dependence, limits autonomy, and perpetuates gender discrimination.
\n.<\/a>
\n\u201cNotably, the Programme for Government only states it will continue to increase the income disregards for Carer\u2019s Allowance in each Budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of the 34th<\/sup>\u00a0D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur family carers deserve more than incremental reform. The immediate abolition of the means test is a necessary step towards creating a more equitable, transparent and humane social welfare system that recognises the contribution of all carers, including those who are currently excluded due to household income.\u201d<\/p>\n

September 30, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

NOTE<\/strong>: Full text of motion here<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The D\u00e1il will debate a Social Democrats\u2019 motion on Wednesday (October 1) calling for the abolition of the means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance in next week\u2019s Budget. Liam Quaide TD, who is the party\u2019 spokesperson on social protection, said: \u201cPre-budget kite-flying by the government over the weekend suggests there will be modest increases in income […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[735,739,652,7,721],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budget-2026","category-carers-allowance","category-liam-quaide","category-press-release","category-social-protection"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSocial Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The D\u00e1il will debate a Social Democrats\u2019 motion on Wednesday (October 1) calling for the abolition of the means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance in next week\u2019s Budget. Liam Quaide TD, who is the party\u2019 spokesperson on social protection, said: \u201cPre-budget kite-flying by the government over the weekend suggests there will be modest increases in income […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-30T11:29:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Liam-new-pic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1143\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\"},\"headline\":\"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-30T11:29:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":350,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Budget 2026\",\"Carer's Allowance\",\"Liam Quaide\",\"Press Release\",\"social protection\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-30T11:29:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\",\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/press\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance - Social Democrats","og_description":"The D\u00e1il will debate a Social Democrats\u2019 motion on Wednesday (October 1) calling for the abolition of the means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance in next week\u2019s Budget. Liam Quaide TD, who is the party\u2019 spokesperson on social protection, said: \u201cPre-budget kite-flying by the government over the weekend suggests there will be modest increases in income […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2025-09-30T11:29:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1143,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Liam-new-pic.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Officer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Officer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/"},"author":{"name":"Press Officer","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7"},"headline":"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance","datePublished":"2025-09-30T11:29:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/"},"wordCount":350,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Budget 2026","Carer's Allowance","Liam Quaide","Press Release","social protection"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/","name":"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-30T11:29:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/social-democrats-motion-seeks-abolition-of-means-test-for-carers-allowance\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Social Democrats\u2019 motion seeks abolition of means test for Carer\u2019s Allowance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7","name":"Press Officer","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/press\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13675,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13674\/revisions\/13675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}