The issue of care and disability was catapulted to the forefront of the campaign following the meeting between Fine Gael leader Simon Harris and disability care worker Charlotte Fallon in Kanturk last Friday night.
Ms Fallon articulated to the Taoiseach the frustrations that many carers have with the present Government. She accused him of ignoring the sector and of treating Section 39 workers, who are contracted privately to work in disability services, differently to those who work in the public sector.
The annual Netwatch Family Carer of the Year awards are always scheduled for the last Thursday in November – this one happened to be the day before the general election.
Carers from all 26 counties in the State go forward to the provincial awards, with the overall winner chosen from the provincial winners. All four provincial winners have their own tales of woe while battling with the State for services.
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The Laois, Leinster and overall carer of the year was Sarah Dooley from Mountmellick, Co Laois, who is a mother of four. She has autistic twins, John and Patrick (5) and a seven-year-old son, Cathal, who has been undergoing leukaemia treatment.
The twins were turned down for 19 schools each before eventually getting a place. She described it as “soul-destroying” and said she would struggle to cope without her partner, Cathal, and their extended family.
Whoever forms the next Government has “to provide more services with additional needs, speech and language, occupational therapy – none of it is available”, she said.
The Munster carer of the year, Joe O’Loughlin from Athea, Co Limerick, cares for his wife Donna, who has a traumatic brain injury, and their three children, including Jacob (6), who is autistic with Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Caleb (4), who has a brain injury, autism, epilepsy, scoliosis and oral dysphagia. His youngest child, daughter Precious, has been diagnosed with a bowel condition.
Mr O’Loughlin said carers need to be treated a lot better by the next Government. “A lot of promises are made before elections, but not a lot of them are kept,” he said.
“For my two boys I get €680 a month. That wouldn’t cover a week of Caleb’s therapy. Caleb has never had a public therapy session. Everything has been private because he has to wait two years. I had to borrow €35,000.
“Look at scoliosis. People are waiting years. The only reason that Caleb has got anything is because my wife has pushed so hard for it and we have had to pay for it, and it is wrong.”
Connacht regional carer of the year, Maura Fahy from Renmore, Co Galway, has spent 14 years caring for her elderly parents while balancing her own family responsibilities. Her father lost a leg 12 years ago. He died in September. Her mother has dementia and is blind. Her 26-year-old son has autism.
“Change has to be made. The stories that we have heard here today when you have children with special needs,” she said.
“It is a very lonely life if you are looking after your parents or your children. We need more home help, we need more respite, we need more funding. Covid-19 added to this. It really affected people with special needs because it took away their social skills.”
Ulster Family Carer of the Year, Cathy Kelly from Carndonagh, Co Donegal, cares for her four children, including Timothy (10), who has hydrocephalus, and Lucy (14), who has severe cerebral palsy.
The workload she has in looking after two disabled children was compounded by a tragic workplace accident five years ago when her partner, Kevin, was killed. Local people stepped in to help raise money to adapt her home for her two disabled children.
She said carers in Donegal have an added set of problems on top of the issues faced by carers elsewhere in the State.
“There is no respite services really in Donegal. We have no motorway to get to appointments in Dublin. I don’t think people south of us understand the plight we have,” she said.
“We have a community leisure centre in Buncrana which has been closed for 20 years and they won’t open it. They got funding but it still hasn’t been opened.”
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In relation to an incident that Mr Harris had with the care worker in Kanturk, she said: “As a carer I have to say that most politicians live in their own world. Unless it affects them directly, they don’t know what it is.”
Tricia Blee, the community support manager at Family Carers Ireland for Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo, accompanied Ms Kelly to Dublin. She said there is a “postcode lottery” across the country for services and Donegal comes out worst of all.
“In Donegal there are no vacancies for speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, assessment of need. It is a completely different world in the northwest,” she said.
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