Allowance cuts - Carers must be supported properly

The Carers’ Association invited ministers, Dáil deputies and senators on the new “Care Bus” to visit the home of family carer Alison McKim, a single mother who provides full-time care for her son Zack in Terenure. Seventeen-year-old Zack has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, asthma and is blind.

He is completely dependent on his mother and the Carers’ Association thought, in the run-up to the budget, that a visit to the McKim home would provide a real insight into the needs of such people, and their dependence on the meagre payments they are receiving.

Alison McKim thought her small terraced house would be too small to cater for the politicians, but only five deputies showed up. Normally an editorial would not go into the detail of naming individual deputies, but in this case they showed a concern that deserves to be highlighted. The five deputies were Joe Behan, John McGuinness, Jan O’Sullivan, Roisín Shorthall and Mary Upton. The latter three are all members of Labour.