Carers victory as minister changes tack after Ó Snodaigh campaign

Minister Joan Burton’s plan caused considerable distress and anguish among people who are currently full-time carers

IN A SIGNIFICANT BREAKTHROUGH, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh has secured from Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton a commitment that carers will be excluded from her plans to introduce a Single Working Age Payment for all recipients of social welfare.

Earlier this year it was clear that the minister and her department had planned to include Carer’s Allowance in the scheme whereby everybody on social welfare of a working age would have to be ‘genuinely seeking and available for full-time work’.

Her plan caused considerable distress and anguish among people who are currently full-time carers. It did not take in to account that, for many people, caring is more than a full-time job and the hours, time, energy and commitment involved make it impossible for people to be active job-seekers. Ironically, being a full-time carer is also a fundamental condition of being able to claim Carer’s Allowance in the first place.

However, last February, Deputy Ó Snodaigh urged the Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection to investigate the minister’s plans, draw up a report and to make recommendations. The committee appointed the Dublin South Central TD as Rapporteur.

He subsequently met with a broad range of groups and individuals concerned at the minister’s plans and brought his findings to the committee before the end of March.

The All-Party Committee agreed with his report and asked the minister to abandon her plans to include Carer’s Allowance in the Single Working Age Payment scheme.

Speaking after the Minister announced in the Dáil that carers will now be exempt, Deputy Ó Snodaigh welcomed the news. He said:

“The minister accepted that the condition for receipt of Carer’s Allowance (i.e. that you must be engaged in the provision of full-time care) is completely at odds with the activation/genuinely seeking and available for full-time work condition of Jobseeker’s Allowance.

“This is good news and will be a relief for many carers out there who feared the significant financial loss that would have resulted from the proposal to merge the payment.”

Watch the video