Seán Ó Fearghaíl
Ceist:550. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Social Protection the key measures taken to support carers during 2025; his priorities for 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [73562/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 18 December 2025
Ceisteanna (550)
Freagraí scríofa
The Government is very aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and the challenges they face and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role.
The main income supports to carers provided by my Department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €1.9 billion this year and to exceed €2.2 billion in 2026.
There have been significant improvements made to the carer supports provided in recent years. Changes to carer’s payments and benefits, including the means tests, income thresholds and capital disregards are always kept under consideration, in consultation with carers and the organisations that represent them.
In this regard, I have taken a range of actions to improve outcomes for carers across all the carer payments under my remit.
As part of Budget 2026, I recently announced a range of measures to support family carers, which will take effect over the coming year:
• From January 2026 there will be a €10 increase in the maximum personal rate of Carer's Allowance and Carer's Benefit. There will be proportionate increases for people getting a reduced rate. This will be the fifth successive rise in weekly welfare rates which have increased by €51 over the last five years.
• Also in January, there will be a €20 increase to the monthly Domiciliary Care Allowance payment, bringing it to €380. This payment has increased by €70.50 per month since January 2023.
• From next July, there will be a further very significant increase in the Carer's Allowance income disregard to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a couple. Since June 2022, this amounts to cumulative increases to the disregards of €667.50 and €1,335 respectively, or an increase of just over 200%.
• In line with Carer’s Allowance, the earnings limit for Carer’s Benefit will also increase again next year from €625 to €1,000, after tax.
• Where eligible, Carer’s Allowance recipients will benefit from the increase to the Fuel Allowance payment of €5 per week.
• For carers with children the weekly rates of the Child Support Payment will increase by €16 to €78 for children aged 12 and over, and by €8 to €58 for under 12s in January 2026. This is the largest Child Support Payment[] increase in the history of the State.
In addition, a Christmas Bonus or a double week payment has just been paid to over 1.47 million long term social welfare recipients, including carers.
These measures build on previous measures to improve supports for carers including Budget 2025 measures implemented this year:
• A €12 increase in the personal weekly maximum rate of Carer's Allowance and Carer's Benefit, from January.
• Domiciliary Care Allowance was increased by €20 from €340 to €360 per month, in January.
• Carer’s Allowance became a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance from January.
• Carer’s Benefit was extended to people who are self-employed from January.
• In June, the Carer’s Support Grant was increased by €150 from €1,850 to €2,000 – its highest ever rate.
• In July this year, the Carer's Allowance weekly income disregard increased to €625 for a single person and €1,250 for a couple.
• The Carer's Benefit earnings limit was also increased from €450 to €625 per week at that time.
The changes to the means test have enabled many carers on reduced rates to move to higher payments and have brought new carers into the Carer’s Allowance system for the first time. There are now over 104,000 carers receiving this payment.
The Programme for Government contains a wide range of commitments to family carers. The improvements already delivered in 2025 and those planned for 2026 demonstrate the Government’s determination to continue delivering on these commitments. The Programme also commits to further increasing the Carer’s Support Grant, progressively increasing weekly carer payments and examining how best to support carers who provide full-time care to more than one person.
These commitments will continue to be advanced over the lifetime of the Government, taking account of available resources.
I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.