71. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the provisions that have been made to ensure that agencies, organisations, charities and service providers funded by his Department will be able to meet their obligations under the new auto-enrolment scheme. [62181/25]

Sentiment score: 0.23

My question, as is often the case, is very straightforward. I am looking for information about the provisions that have been made concerning agencies and organisations which deliver services on behalf of the State, are funded by the State and have workers who want to be part of the auto-enrolment scheme but are concerned they are not funded to be able to do that. The Minister will well know the last time there was a cut to the budget of these agencies, they were told to find the savings from within their own envelope. That really did not work out well.

Sentiment score: -0.04

However, they are going to be disadvantaged if the Government does not fund them. Bearing in mind the hands-off approach that the Government takes to these agencies, we should remember that although it caused the homelessness crisis with its policies, it has asked people to come in to shore it up. Some of the agencies are funded only by the State, and if they do not have additional funding – I have checked in the budget and I do not see that there is any – it will simply mean they will have to try to find it from within their existing budgets, which means either pay cuts or cutting back on services. Neither of those options is viable. I would like to hear from the Minister confirmation that he believes all those funded by the State will be in the desired position. As the Minister said, the contributions from the worker have to be matched by employer contributions. They have no capacity to raise money on their own. Therefore, is the State going to fund it, and can the Minister confirm that this morning?

Sentiment score: -0.16

The Minister and I know they are covered, but my question is on whether they are funded. The Minister of State says he has had extensive engagement, and I absolutely do not doubt that for a moment. I would say his engagement was exceedingly extensive; however, as a result of his engagement, have his Department and other Departments confirmed that the agencies they fund to deliver services will be in a position to meet their obligations to all of their workers without having to cut back on services or wages? If they have not been given extra money and do not have the capacity to generate money, we are back to where we were at the time the Minister’s party crashed the economy, when it gave the instruction to people that they did not necessarily have to cut pay but had to cut back. The Government told them not to cut services, so in the end they did cut pay. We can imagine that people who were burned before are very anxious to know if they are going to be in a capacity to join the scheme. The employers are anxious to know if they are going to be funded. My fear is that they are not funded at the moment and that we are going to end up in a situation where some people may be excluded or some agencies may have to make decisions that we do not want them to have to make.

Sentiment score: 0.05

73. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection for an estimate of the number of new people who will be eligible to receive carer’s allowance following budget 2026; if he will explain to carers who are currently excluded by the means test exactly when they will be made aware of when they will become eligible; the amount his Department is prepared to spend on the relaxation of the carer’s means test, given that this was not made clear in the budget 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62427/25]

Sentiment score: 0.09

This relates to the commitment given in the programme for Government to phase out the means test for the carer’s allowance. I am genuinely struggling to understand the timeline the Minister has in his head. He told me, via a parliamentary question, that it will cost more than €600 million. He has only budgeted €10 million for next year, which is a partial year, so it works out at €20 million. By that logic, it would take 30 years to get to €600 million. I am interested in finding out how many additional people will benefit from the 2026 measures so that we can have an idea of how it is going to work going forward.

Sentiment score: 0.11

Forgive me but I am still none the wiser. Following on from the budget announcement, I submitted a parliamentary question to the Department. It told me that the budgeted €10 million only covers existing recipients. By implication, the 3,000 people the Department estimates will benefit from the measure are people who are already in receipt of carer’s allowance. Am I right on that? Presumably, the 53,000 people the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation says could potentially be eligible will all have to be brought into the system when the means test is abolished. How many of them will come into the net? How is the Minister going to do that over the next four years? Has he set a target? What the Minister is telling me is that the €10 million is not a fixed amount and, somehow, it can be expanded upon. That is not budgeted for, however. Can he explain, given that the 3,000 people coming in as part of this tranche are already in receipt of carer’s allowance, how many of the 53,000 who are not in receipt of it, will come in and in what year will they do so, from now until the end of the Government’s term?

Sentiment score: 0.02

It is from the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.

Sentiment score: 0.00

I know the Minister’s ambition is to abolish the means test. I am not disputing that but if he cannot tell me how he is going to do it, he will forgive me for being somewhat sceptical about the commitment. It is a little bit like the however many thousand houses the Government was going to build. That was an ambition as well. Ambition is not going to put money in the bank account of carers or bring those carers who are not currently eligible into the net. I welcome the fact that the Minister has said he will provide me with some of the information. The figure of 53,000 comes from the Department of public expenditure and reform. The question those 53,000 people currently not in receipt of carer’s allowance, who may potentially benefit, would like me to ask is when they will be included. They are currently not getting compensation for the care and work they do. I know the ambition is to abolish the means test by the end of the Government’s term, but there has to be a plan. It cannot simply be the case that everyone suddenly comes into the net five minutes before midnight on the day before the Government ends. There is a need for a plan, targets and figures. I am asking for them to be shared with me and the House.

Sentiment score: 0.25