We just need a little more support: Ireland's hidden army of carers are honoured

Harry, 13, and Molly Flynn, 11, are the best big brother and sister in the country - they helped their younger sister Isabelle, aged seven, who was told she would never walk, to not only crawl, but to dance too. The pair has also saved their sister's life a number of times.

"Isabelle has a condition called apnoea (as well as cerebral palsy), where she stops breathing during the day and night, and the first time it ever happened was when she was first born, and I was holding her and feeding her her bottle in the sitting room and she just started crying and then she just stopped and I noticed her lips were going blue.

"I had been in the Red Cross for a while so I knew she wasn't breathing so I tapped her on the foot to try and wake her up, so then I blew into her mouth, which made her have enough oxygen to regain her colour in her mouth again," explains Harry, who was only six at the time.

Harry and his sister Molly have been awarded the CarePlus Young Carer of the Year Award.

Molly wants to tell any other brother or sister, who might worry about their sibling, that helping someone is fun.

"I was in the hall and I was trying to play a game with Isabelle and I said: 'I'm going to try and get her to crawl,' and me and Harry went crawling down the hall, and Isabelle went following us.

"And I helped her dance and sing," says Molly, "and I helped her eat and talk properly," adds Harry, who both say simultaneously that "it's fun" helping Isabelle.

"It's not hard to save lives, anyone can do it too," says Harry.

"It's not scary you just do it and that's it," adds Molly.

Meanwhile, Brenda O'Connell-Barry from Charleville, who was featured in today's Irish Examiner, won the overall CarePlus Carer of the Year Award.

Brenda and her husband Trevor care for their 4-year-old son Fionn, who has an extremely rare genetic condition, called NACC1. Fionn is the only known person in Europe with the condition.

"I compare it to like someone being at war, you know like soldiers the way they get post-traumatic stress? That's what it feels like.

"Sometimes he can scream for nine days constantly, day and night, and we'll just be taking turns trying to see how long can you last and take a little break and come back to it again and see if you can comfort him and sometimes you can't comfort him, you just have to hold him and rock him," explains Brenda.

However, despite her son's condition, she still has to fight for State support - something she hopes to change now that she has won the award.

"If carers just had a little bit more support, if we didn't have to get to such a state to get the support, you know? You don't get it until the carer is practically hospitalised themselves. You just have to fight so hard," she says.