Blind facing double income cuts

CLEARING snow from the gutter is no more than a chore for the able-bodied, but an impossibility for those who are blind, and what people don’t realise, says Seán O’Connell, is that the blind pay more to survive.

“We’ve got to get people to cut the grass, to paint and decorate, to clean windows, in other words, to do jobs most people do themselves. If we need anything done, we have to pay someone to do it.”

Seán, whose wife, Jenny, has partial sight, is angered by the cut to the Blind Pension and the Disability Allowance announced in the budget. He is in receipt of both allowances, worth €196 each, but the budget cut (€8 per payment per week) will reduce his monthly income by €64.