Wheelchair-bound carer appeals to reverse cuts in allowance
Carolyn Akintola, from Tallaght, Dublin, was among dozens of carers who made the plea during a high-profile protest outside the Dáil yesterday.
Due to a genetic condition, known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, the 49-year-old has heart, muscle and joint problems which have confined her to a wheelchair since birth.
Ms Akintola is also the sole carer for her now 75-year-old mother, Elsie Kelleghan, who is also confined to a wheelchair as she suffers from Parkinson’s disease and end-stage kidney failure.
However, while Ms Akintola has been able to cope with the difficulties in the past, an array of cuts to carer supports in the past 18 months have made the situation impossible for her family.
“The carers’ allowance wasn’t fantastic to start with before these cuts [in recent budgets], but you still had a fairly good idea about what you would have coming in into the future. Now you just don’t know.
“You’re told to just battle on, but you’re worrying about the next cut in terms of what it will be and how it’s going to affect you.
“Carers don’t cost the State anything, we actually save taxpayers money because of the work we do for free in looking after our loved ones.
“But at this stage it just feels as if we are being taken advantage of,” she said.
Ms Akintola detailed her concerns during the protest yesterday attempting to convince Government to stop cutting back on services for the vital sector.
The campaign, called Give Carers A Break, has been launched after a series of cuts to services meant to help Ireland’s 187,000 voluntary family carers over the past 18 months.
These reductions include a 19% cut to the respite care grant, the elimination of the mobility allowance and serious reductions to the housing adaptation grant — a fund considered vital to changing homes to meet set disability needs.
lFurther details on the Carers’ Association campaign against cuts can be found at carersireland.com or on the organisation’s national care line, freefone 1800 240724.
