TAX relief to help carers to pay for additional help in the home could create thousands of jobs, says the Carers' Association.
Carers are willing to pay for good quality care if they can afford it, says its chief executive, Mr Eddie Collins Hughes, who estimates that tax relief could lead to the creation of up to 25,000 jobs.
At present, tax relief on up to £5,000 of income is given to a person who pays somebody to care for himself or herself, says Mr Collins Hughes, but very often the person being cared for has little or no taxable income.
"At present there is no tax relief for the carer and no incentive for long term unemployed people to take up respite and homecare assistant positions," he said.
The association would like to see relief given to carers - typically daughters, sons or spouses - to enable them to have a break from caring or to pursue a job or other activity. At present, he says, "carers get no tax relief when they pay someone to come into their home to provide a respite service. The carer also has to register as an employer and deduct PAYE and PRSI."
The association plans to set up care co ops which would look after the technical aspects of employment on behalf of carers but sees tax relief as crucial to its success.
It already employs about loo people on FAS community employment schemes to give breaks to carers - but they will have to leave the scheme over the next year, under FAS rules. Mr Collins Hughes says the provision of tax relief to carers would enable these people to get jobs for which they have been trained.
In common with other voluntary groups, the association complains, in a pre Budget submission, that the transfer of a grant scheme from the Department of Social Welfare to the Department of Health has led to numerous difficulties in obtaining grants.
The association must apply to separate health boards instead of the Department of Social Welfare and there are long delays in obtaining the money, says Mr Collins Hughes.
The submission calls on the health boards to approve and pay grants speedily.