Dara Calleary
Mayo · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“Agriculture is the backbone. We have all been in the Mansion House today, or everyone has said they were anyway. Energy security is key and crucial. Everybody wants energy security but nobody wants wind energy. We have to strike a balance and get a real discussion, but food security is most important.”
“While we have gaps there, we are addressing them. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has announced the minor injury units, which will take the pressure off major hospitals and ensure services are available.”
“Recent figures from the CSO show that there is a 5.8% increase in the number of people living in rural areas between 2016 and 2022. In areas classified as highly rural and remote, the increase was 6.4%.”
“Enterprise Ireland is investing in Irish-owned, Irish-founded companies. Similarly, 59% of IDA investments were located outside the Dublin region. We will continue to work, looking at the progress we can make through the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and, as Senator O'Loughlin said, through supporting our local enterprise offices.”
“That is something we do daily and they are used where is necessary. The plan will be supported by ambitious, clear, practical and measurable actions. I have spoken to some of the funding programmes available within my Department.”
“Táim tar éis cuairt a thabhairt ar gach ceantar Gaeltachta chun plé fairsing a dhéanamh leis na pobail sin chun a fháil amach uathu féin cén cineál tacaíochta ar féidir a chur ar fáil dóibh chun cabhrú leo. Táim chun leanúint ar aghaidh leis an obair sin sa bhuiséad le teacht agus na buiséid eile.”
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Every one of 2,162 lines we hold for Dara Calleary, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 42 of 44.
“A lot of points have been raised. I ask the Deputy to come back to me on the last issue he raised. I assure all Deputies that we are very focused on the work done by carers, which is incredibly important. As I said earlier, it should be work done across the Oireachtas, not just in the committee on social protection but also the health committee. It is the Government's intention, over its lifetime, and by means of the five budgets that we hope to present, to remove the means test. It will be done in a manner that is reflective of the budgets at the time. This is a major priority. Supporting carers and the very important work they do is not just a priority for the Government; it is a priority for me. I intend to champion it during my time as Minister for Social Protection.”
“I will continue to engage with carers and their representative organisations, including at the carer's forum in the summer to ensure their voice is central to the work ahead of the next budget to support carers in the very important work that they do.”
“There is a range of costs. The figure of €3 billion only arises in the context of everybody who self-declared as a carer in 2022 census qualifying. Even if only 70% of those carers were to qualify, the cost would go up to approximately €2 billion. The very important work done by carers is recognised. It has been recognised consistently by this Government and the previous one. We have made substantial changes to the supports available. In budget 2025, the carer's support grant increased to €2,000, which is the highest rate ever for this grant. The carer's allowance weekly income disregard will increase to €265 for a single person and to €1,250 as part of budget 2025. That is a very substantial increase in the payment in recent years.”
“It will be a priority for me to do that, as I have discussed this morning, over the five budgets that will be presented by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform during the lifetime of the Government. This is a key commitment in the programme for Government and it is something that will be a priority for me as Minister in the Department of Social Protection.”
“This amounts to cumulative increases to the disregards of €292.50 and €585, respectively, since June 2022. An interdepartmental working group involving the Departments of Health and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth was established last year to examine and review the system of means-testing for carer payments. I hope to have the report on its findings in the coming weeks. The Government is very aware of the key role family carers play in society and the challenges they face on a daily basis. We have set out a timeline that commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for carer's allowance in each budget over the course of the next five years, with the ultimate view of phasing out the means test during the lifetime of the Government.”
“I thank the Deputy. I formally congratulate him on his election and welcome him back to Leinster House. The carer's allowance is the main scheme by which my Department provides income support to the very important work done by carers in the community. The primary objective of the carer's allowance payment is to provide an income support to those carers whose earning capacity is substantially reduced. There are currently 98,311 people in receipt of carer's allowance and expenditure in 2025 is estimated to be more than €1.24 billion. A number of significant improvements have made to the means test in recent years. As part of budget 2025, the weekly income disregard will increase from €450 to €625 for a single person, and from €900 to €1,250 for carers with a spouse or partner.”
“We want to make sure that it is working and does what we all want it to do, which is to give a minimum nutritional value to the youngest citizens of the country and to ensure that everybody gets it, regardless of income. I am aware of the impact it has. Yesterday, I joined Tesco in regard to its Stronger Starts programme for vegetables. I saw some fantastic examples of that programme around the country. None of us understands the impact of good nutrition for younger children, which is what this scheme is intended to be about.”
“I disagree with very little of what the Deputy said. I will certainly look at that. This year we will introduce a pilot project based on the Department of Education's summer programme to ensure that schools that are eligible for the school meals programme will be able to make meals available for the summer programme. That will support approximately 40,000 of the most vulnerable children who have complex special educational needs, who are at risk of educational disadvantage. We will work with the Department of Education to ensure that gets rolled out. I am very focused on the nutritional side of this scheme. The initiative has been a wonderful success. I thank the officials in my Department who have worked very hard to get it right.”
“Let us not forget that consistency or the original intention of the scheme. Let us not forget the importance of nutrition in anyone's life and particularly a child's. We have had a lot of feedback regarding the issue the Deputy has just raised, the different tastes of kids of different eras. We all know how difficult it is. This is something I will zero in on and particularly the entire audit process.”
“I do not want catch-all phrases. We cannot do that any more. That day is gone. I want to see what people are eating. There are also students with different dietary needs and we are not in a good space to account for those needs if we are using catch-all phrases. This is something I will look at. I have asked for full information on the audit process and what is involved in it because, like the Deputy, I have had feedback from parents and teachers on the operation of this scheme. We have come a long way and it is important to acknowledge how successful this scheme has been. We now have 1,884 schools in the scheme. We will expand that again later. The reason this scheme was implemented in the first place was to ensure consistency of nutrition for our students across all cohorts.”
“I will ask the interdepartmental working group being established within my Department to focus on delivering the best value nutritionally as well as best value everywhere else.”
“In addition, my Department participates in the Department of Health’s obesity policy implementation oversight group. Under the programme for Government, my Department will continue to expand and improve the hot school meals scheme and we will ensure that suppliers adhere to robust guidelines on the nutritional value of meals and the dietary requirements of students, reduce food waste and utilise recyclable packaging. On any occasion there are specific concerns about food choice or the quality of food provided under the scheme, these should be brought to my Department’s attention. I assure the Deputy that the nutritional side of this scheme is very important to me. It is something I will very much focus on.”
“Funding will not be provided for food that does not comply with the standards I have referred to. All participating schools must also submit to my Department a signed service level agreement that clearly sets out the school’s responsibilities in terms of compliance with nutritional standards. It is important to note that there are a range of food options on the menu including lactose-free, vegetarian and gluten-free options. It is the parents who select the food choices for their children. In December 2024, the Department of Social Protection established an interdepartmental working group, which includes the Departments of Health, Education, and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to make recommendations on the operation of the scheme including recommendations on nutrition.”
“I thank the Deputy. I really appreciate her raising this issue today. This is something I will be focused on. A specific nutritional standard was set for school meals. This is based on the Food Safety Authority of Ireland food-based dietary recommendations for healthy eating. These were developed by a technical working group led by the health and well-being programme of the Department of Health, Safefood and the HSE's healthy eating and active living programme. The Department of Social Protection has an oversight role in relation to the school meals programme. It conducts regular inspections of schools. Under the existing audit process, 400 schools are inspected annually. Every school must submit a sample menu with its application for the school meals programme.”
“Right across government, we are very focused on child poverty; it is not just the Department of Social Protection. We are asking all other Departments that engage in this space to come to the table with proposals as to how we can work collectively to assist children in poverty.”
“Again, we will look at all issues and proposals in the context of budget 2026, which will be delivered later this year. At the moment, our priority is to get these payments out and to get work on child poverty very much under way within the Department in the context of programme for Government commitments. We are looking at targeted child benefit payments and how these would interact with existing payments. We are looking at work that has been done by the ESRI, the NESC and the Commission on Taxation and Welfare and how a new child benefit payment might interact with the working family payment, which is also available for people facing any kind of income pressure, and the child support payment. That will be looked at as part of a broader examination of the design of the new targeted child benefit payment.”
“As I previously said to Deputy O'Gorman, I am very focused on the area of child poverty and how the child benefit payment interacts with existing payments. It is something I intend to do a lot of work on during my time in this Ministry.”
“The introduction of this payment is a highly popular initiative of the Department. Unfortunately, we cannot backdate payments ten years or longer in these cases. On the question of a potential payment at the other end of the spectrum, we are certainly open to any suggestions in the context of the budget, although that process will not get under way for a while. We have made changes in respect of child benefit in recent years. As I have said, these changes relate particularly to children who are in full-time education. The payment used to be cut off at the age of 18 regardless of where you were. We have made some changes there. We recognise that end of the spectrum is particularly challenging and expensive for parents. Supports are available there.”
“As the Deputy will be aware, child benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16. Child benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16, 17 and 18 if they are in full-time education, full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves. At present, child benefit is in payment to 679,000 families in respect of 1.27 million children with an estimated expenditure of €2.2 billion for 2025. The first newborn payments issued on 11 February to more than 4,400 people in respect of 4,522 children. The number of newborn baby grants paid to parents in Carlow is 88 while 104 payments have been made in respect of children from Kilkenny. Nationally, 6,345 people have been paid the newborn baby grant. This corresponds to 6,448 children.”
“I thank the Deputy and formally congratulate him on his election. I look forward to working with him. The newborn baby grant of €280 was announced in budget 2025 and is paid to families of babies born on or after 1 December 2024. This grant is paid alongside, but in addition to, the first month’s child benefit payment of €140. Parents of newborns will receive a total first payment of €420. The benefit is payable in respect of newborn babies from the month after birth. Parents of children born in one month, therefore, can receive the child benefit payment, including the newborn grant, from the next month onwards. As the newborn baby grant is paid automatically with child benefit payments there is no additional application for the grant, so parents of new babies do not need to do anything to receive it.”
“That will be considered as part of the broader examination of the potential design. We are at early days in this, so we are not in a position of looking at timelines, but I am open to suggestions for it. We are putting a lot of work into the new committee for social protection, but that will also be a good forum in which to discuss it.”
“Addressing child poverty is a key priority for the Government and the Taoiseach has made it clear to me in my appointment that he wants this prioritised. As the Deputy has said, one of the commitments in the programme for Government is to explore a targeted child benefit payment and examine the interaction that would have with existing targeted supports to reduce child poverty, including the working family payment and the child support payment. My Department is beginning to progress this work under the auspices of the newly established Cabinet committee on children, and with regard to a lot of evidence and work that has been done in this space, including by the ESRI, NESC and the Commission on Taxation and Welfare. Among other matters the work will have to consider is how a targeted child benefit might interact with existing payments.”
“That is a reflection that we understand the pressure people are under. We want to get payments and support to them with as little burden on them as possible at a time their time is under so much pressure.”
“Everything with the Department of public expenditure is hard in terms of negotiations. I agree with the Deputy that this is an important payment at what is a happy time, but which can also be a stressful time in terms of a new arrival. It can also be an expensive time. It is important that we support families and give them the best start at the very start. My Department is certainly committed to doing that. We will continue to support this and other supports available for parents at this time. Now that it is there, I do not see any circumstances where it would be removed. It is a statement of intent on the part of the State to support newborns and parents at a time they are under a lot of pressure. It was also designed to ensure that there would be minimal administrative pressure on parents.”
“That payment will be made with the first payment in the month after the child is born. The first payments issued on 11 February to more than 4,400 people in respect of 4,522 children. They included payments for children born on or after 1 December. To date, 6,345 people have been paid the newborn baby grant in respect of 6,448 children. The total number of payments to be made is demand driven and obviously depends on the birth rate. Looking at recent trends, we estimate that in 2025 newborn baby grants will be paid in respect of 54,000 children and that will cost €15 million. I hope that clarifies the matter.”
“I thank the Deputy for his good wishes. I acknowledge him for his work in this area, and also that of my immediate predecessor, Heather Humphreys who was committed to the newborn baby grant of €280, which was announced in budget 2025 and was paid to families of babies born on or after 1 December 2024. Taken together with the normal first month’s child benefit of €140 parents of newborns will receive a total first payment of €420, which is three times the normal payment. The Deputy and his colleagues led strongly on this. I am sure he will agree that it is a welcome initiative that recognises the extra costs incurred by a family, and by parents, at a very happy time. It is important to note that the newborn baby grant is paid automatically with child benefit payments, so there is no additional requirement for an application process.”
“We published a review of the wage subsidy scheme. Through the WorkAbility programme, which is a fantastic programme nationwide, we are bringing much more awareness of supports available for people with disabilities in work spaces but also supports that are available for employers. That touches on the Deputy's concerns that we are not communicating enough to employers about the supports that are there to assist them to employ people with disability. As a former Minister of State with the Department of enterprise, I will be focused on bringing communication to employers that there are supports there, not just to adapt their premises but to support them as employers to take on people with disability and allow them to make a full contribution to society.”
“I thank Deputies Ó Cearúil and Ó Murchú for raising this. I agree with them on housing. We will bring that to the Minister, Deputy Browne for attention. Deputy Ó Murchú raised the reasonable accommodation fund. My Department published a review of that scheme in 2023 and we have made changes. The new scheme offers seven supports to help reduce and remove barriers in the workplace for people with disability, including support for communication, job coaches, personal readers, work equipment, workplace adaptations and training. Jobseekers, employees, self-employed people and employers can apply for those supports both for business premises and remote workplaces. The scheme is being expanded to all non-public sector employees, including the community and voluntary sector. In July 2024, we launched the work and access to replace former schemes.”
“The report concluded that a multifaceted whole-of-government approach is required to address the cost of disability which will be a key priority for the new Cabinet committee and that is why the Taoiseach is leading out on this. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, under the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is in the process of developing a new national disability strategy. Officials in the Department of Social Protection are contributing to the development and implementation of that strategy with a view to supporting people with disabilities through schemes from my Department.”
“I thank the Deputy. This is a key priority for the Government. The Taoiseach convened a meeting on Monday to discuss support across government for people with disabilities. About seven Ministers were present at that meeting. The Department of Social Protection commissioned Indecon to research issues around the cost of disability. Indecon's report was published in 2021. It identified the additional costs of disability across a number of areas of expenditure, including housing, transport and health. It found that there is not a single typical cost to disability. Rather, it is a spectrum from low to high additional costs of disability which depend on everybody's individual circumstances.”
“We recognise that people with disabilities face higher poverty and lower employment rates than others in society. That is why the programme for Government prioritises investment in services and supports for people with disabilities, including commitments to improve income and employment supports to empower people with disabilities. These will include: an annual cost of disability support payment; a reform of the disability allowance payment and means test; a review of the minimum hours requirement and examination of the payment rate for the wage subsidy scheme; and an expansion of successful programmes like WorkAbility, EmployAbility and work and access. That work is being led by a newly created Cabinet committee specifically dedicated to disability issues.”
“This combination of income support payments and education and employment supports is being developed to help people with disabilities live full and independent lives. Over successive budgets, payment rates have been increased and supports have been improved for people with disabilities, including: a €41 increase to disability income support payments since budget 2021; an increase in the earnings disregard for disability allowance by 38% since budget 2021; and a suite of once-off lump sum and double payments to assist disabled people with the cost of living. In recent years, my Department has also reformed grants for reasonable accommodations and introduced an early engagement model for young and newly disabled people interested in work. I will also launch a reform of the wage subsidy scheme in the coming weeks. We have a lot more to do.”
“Go raibh maith ag an Teachta agus tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go seasaimid le daoine faoi mhíchumas agus is rud an-tábhachtach don Rialtas nua é go mbeidh athruithe sa chuidiú sa Roinn Coimirce Sóisialaí do dhaoine atá faoi mhíchumas. My Department already provides a range of income and employment supports to people with disabilities. These include payments such as the disability allowance, the invalidity pension and blind pension. Also included in these supports are the partial capacity benefit, the wage subsidy scheme, the work and access programme, and the EmployAbility service. People with disabilities are also supported in pursuing further education and training programmes through payments such as the back to education allowance and direct referral to training courses via Intreo and the EmployAbility service.”
“As stated, prior to the budget later this year, I will be engaging with the carers groups at the annual carers forum. That forum provides family carers with a voice at policy level and gives officials from my Department the opportunity to engage directly with people experiencing care issues. The forum will allow us to plan our approach to the next budget, with carers at the heart of that approach.”
“I do not think anyone here would disagree with the Deputy's assessment. I will ask my Department to do a lot of work on the supports that are available to carers. They are often so engaged in giving the care that they do not have the chance to know of the full supports that exist, many of which are not mean tested, including the carer's support grant, carer's benefit, the domiciliary care allowance and the various other supports that are available. We will be asking the Department to do a great deal of work on that this year in order to provide information to carers on the channels and the full range of supports available and to ensure that they are using those supports, which are in recognition of the very important work they do.”
“I will revert to the Deputy with regard to carers over 66 years of age and the work we are doing in that space. It is very important that the work we will do at the committee on social protection be aligned with the work of the committee on health in order to ensure that there is agreement between the two on the importance of carers and that there is co-ordination in respect of the proposals around that. I will engage with both committees to ensure that carers are as supported as possible in order to keep people in their homes, where possible, and that carers are recognised for that very important work.”
“I assure the Deputy that we will continue the work of recent Governments in terms of supporting the work of carers, which we feel is very important. We have already discussed this morning the increases in the income disregard, the weekly increase to carer's allowance and carer's benefit and the increase in the carer's support grant. Since January, the carer's allowance is now included as a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance, which is opening up that payment. The income disregard has increased from €20,000 to €50,000 since June 2022. As and from July of this year, we will ensure that carer's benefit payment is extended to the self-employed for the first time. In that context, the earnings limit will increase from €450 to €625.”
“In the case of carers, the requirement arises due to their need to forgo full-time employment to allow them to take up caring responsibilities. Where a person is providing care to more than one person, the personal rate is increased by up to 50% of the standard rate. In addition, the annual carer's support grant, which is not means tested, is paid in respect of each person being cared for - that is €2000 or doubled, in other words, to €4000. These two provisions are intended to recognise the particular challenges faced by people caring for more than one person. We are committed to further examining how we can better support carers who are providing full-time care and attention to more than one person including a commitment in the programme for Government to increase the carer's support grant.”
“I take this opportunity to officially congratulate the Deputy on his election. Spending on income supports for carers by the Department of Social Protection is expected to amount to over €1.9 billion this year. The carer’s allowance scheme is the main scheme by means of which my Department provides income support to carers in the community. In 2025, the expenditure on the carer’s allowance scheme is estimated to be over €1.2 billion, which will provide an allowance to more than 98,311 people. The carer's allowance payment is intended to provide an income support to a person whose capacity to earn an income from employment is restricted. In other cases, the requirement for an income support may arise due to illness, disability or unemployment.”
“I very much agree about the importance of oral appeals, and I will revert to the Deputy with figures relating to such appeals.”
“For context, the average time taken to process an appeal in 2024 was 23.5 weeks. That jumped from 16 weeks in 2023. The average processing time for an appeal dealt with summarily in 2024 was 24.5 weeks, which, again, was an increase on 2023. As of 31 January last, the current processing times for social welfare appeals is 19.4 weeks. We are beginning to make progress. I will be very focused on reducing that to the shortest period possible. It has to capture the information, give people a chance to engage in the process and ensure consistency and fairness across the service. The new IT system has given us much more online capability. The new online channel is improving people's experience and facilitating the new option we introduced via mywelfare.ie . I will revert to the Deputy on the issue of oral appeals.”
“They will also simplify the process and give more specified response times. The chief appeals officer has assured me that she is monitoring processing times and that they are making every effort to process appeals. However, the drive for the kind of efficiency that the Deputy and I agree on has to be balanced in order to ensure that decisions are consistent and of a high quality. We also endeavour to acknowledge that many people availing of the service do not have electronic capabilities, so we still rely on a lot of old-style communication to strike a balance to allow individuals to access the service in a manner that suits their specific circumstances.”
“The backlogs are a matter of concern to me. That is why there has, as stated, been a lot of investment in additional appeals officers. A new IT system went live in November 2023. This facilitates an online capability to provide a more efficient and streamlined service for people who are making appeals. At end of 2024, a new update provided functionality on mywelfare.ie for people to make appeals. This new feature supports the end-to-end electronic processing of appeals and addresses some of the issues raised by the Deputy. It has reduced the administrative burden of validating and registering appeals. In addition to the appointment of new appeals officers at the end of 2024, this will begin to make a very big difference in the context of waiting times. The new appeals regulations have been signed.”
“The implementation of a new IT system last year, which includes an online option for submitting appeals, makes it easier for customers to lodge appeals. New appeals regulations have been signed to come into effect from April this year which provide for simpler processes and specified response times. These should help to further reduce processing times.”
“The number of appeals officers working in the appeals office in 2024 was 44, four of whom were work-sharing. There were also two deputy chief appeals officers. The number of appeals officers working in the appeals office in 2023 was 44, with five work-sharing and two deputy chief appeals officers. The number of appeals officers working in the appeals office in 2022 was 43, with three work-sharing and two deputy chief appeals officers. The increase in the number of serving appeals officers during 2024 reflects the measures the chief appeals officer has put in place to deal with the increased volumes of appeals to be processed. Twenty additional staff were assigned and attended training in December and January. They have now been appointed as appeals officers and are making decisions.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The social welfare appeals office is responsible for considering and determining appeals of first-instance decisions of the Department's deciding officers in relation to people's social welfare entitlements. The appeals service is designed to provide free-of-cost access to a second opinion by an officer at a senior grade within the Department. Prior to submitting an appeal to the appeals office, applicants also have the option of seeking a review of the decision by the relevant section in the Department. Those appointed as appeals officers are required to be independent in their decision-making functions. The current number of appeals officers working in the appeals office is 65, four of whom are work-sharing, and three deputy chief appeals officers.”
“It is to acknowledge that at what is a very happy time, there is also additional expense, and we have tried to make it as easy as possible for parents to access this payment at what is a very busy time in their lives. On childcare, there are commitments in the programme for Government, on which the Minister, Deputy Foley, will be leading out, to improve access to it and to improve supports for parents as they rear their children and get through the early stages of their child's life. That is certainly something she will lead out on.”
“I thank the Deputy. As I look around, I think that, apart from the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I am the longest serving Deputy in this House, and on every day of those 18 years, I have heard references to trying to make ours a family-friendly Oireachtas, although we seem to be going further away from that. Even so, a lot of work has been done in respect of parental leave for Members of the Oireachtas and that should be continued during this term. I see that Deputy O'Gorman is in the Chamber, and I acknowledge his support for the newborn baby grant in the previous Government. That was something on which both he and my predecessor, Heather Humphreys, led out.”
“The first payments for newborns issued on 11 February to more than 4,400 customers in respect of 4,522 children. These included 329 payments for County Kildare. To date, 6,345 customers have been paid the newborn baby grant in respect of 6,448 children. I congratulate all our new parents and wish them health and happiness on their journey.”
“Parents of children born in one month can, therefore, receive the child benefit payment, including the newborn baby grant, from the next month onwards. Given that the newborn baby grant is paid automatically with child benefit payments, there is no additional application for the grant. Therefore, parents of newborns do not need to do anything extra to receive the grant. Child benefit, as the Deputy may be aware, is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16, 17 or 18 if they are in full-time education or training or have a disability and cannot support themselves. At present, child benefit is in payment to 679,000 families in respect of 1.27 million children, with an estimated expenditure of €2.2 billion for 2025.”