‘We are all living in fear in relation to where is the axe going to drop next’

MARY McDONNELL has been caring for her daughter Sinéad for 50 years, and it’s not getting any easier.

Now aged 76, Mary has found that if anything, the last half dozen budgets have made life a lot more difficult.

Living in Douglas on the outskirts of Cork City, she tends to the needs of her daughter, who suffers from a very serious degree of cerebral palsy, on a daily basis, alongside her husband who himself suffers from bad health. “Life is a struggle now at 76,” she says. “It’s hard going.”