Lard knocked out of carer over €87k bill, says husband

THEY have tried seeing the funny side but, no matter which way you look at it, being told to repay almost €87,000 to the state is no laughing matter.

A woman at the centre of a case in which the Department of Social and Family Affairs has asked for repayment of €86,700 it claims she was overpaid as a carer has had “the lard knocked out of her”, according to her husband. She has had to receive hospital treatment linked to stress as a result. The overpayment demand was revealed last week at an Oireachtas Committee.

The woman, from Co Tipperary, who wishes not to be identified, has been in receipt of the carer’s allowance since 1997, for looking after her husband who has had a succession of health setbacks in recent times, including rheumatoid arthritis which sometimes means he cannot get out of the chair. He has suffered a massive heart attack in the past, and on another occasion, acute kidney failure.