Entitlements campaign - Support for carers is long overdue

NOT before time, the Government is to launch a publicity campaign to alert Ireland’s 150,000 family carers about their legal rights and entitlements.

Under welcome changes in allowances and respite grants, thousands of people stand to benefit from improved support systems.

At present, however, only one-in-five carers are availing of these.

Next month’s publicity campaign by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to highlight increased payments, to which carers are entitled, is a welcome, if belated, bid by the State to reach out to some of the most vulnerable, neglected and deserving of people.

All too often the efforts of carers to get appropriately informed have been strangled by red tape. Selflessly, caring for sick or elderly relatives, they have lacked the necessary support they richly deserve. In a real sense, they have been among the forgotten people of Irish society.