Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 January 2026
75. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Social Protection if he is aware that the funding allocation to family carers and young carers has not increased in the 2026 Dormant Accounts Fund Action Plan compared to the previous year; if he will provide additional funding to return the family carer measure to €2.5 million as in the 2024 Action Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68383/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy department has provided for a €1 million allocation under the Dormant Accounts Action Plan 2026 in order to meets its funding commitments under the current Family Carer Measure - Supporting Carers to remain in employment or education or to provide help to get back into work, education or training.
Following a Call for Applications where there was potentially €2.5 million available, and a subsequent appraisal process, which took place in late 2024, a total of eight organisations, three national and five local, were successful in their bid for funding.
The measure is managed by Pobal on behalf of the Department and Pobal issued grant agreements to the successful organisations in December 2024. The projects commenced their activities on 1 January 2025 and the measure is due to conclude at the end of December 2026. Funding commitments to the projects amount to over €1.2 million over the period.
The Deputy should be aware that my department has not reduced funding under Dormant Accounts for family carers. Ultimately the final amount of funding that is allocated to a measure is determined by the number of organisations that apply for funding, the scale of their projects, and subsequently the number of these organisations that are successful in their bids.
As such, the allocation of €1 million provided to my Department in 2026 is sufficient to complete the current measure in line with our commitments and there is no requirement for additional funding to be sought.
The Dormant Accounts initiatives run by my department have proved very successful. We have had very positive feedback from the carer organisations that have carried out activities under the various measures we have run over the last number of years. In this regard I have asked my officials to work with Pobal to develop a successor measure. It is my intention to have the successor measure in place at the from the beginning of next year.
Funds required for projects under a new measure in 2027 will be provided for in the Dormant Accounts Action Plan 2027 and within my own department’s revised estimates expenditure profile for 2027, in line with Government accounting procedures and legislation set out under the Dormant Accounts Act.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
