Woeful week needs a positive response

IT’S not as if we needed to be told again, especially on what promises to be a sunny bank holiday weekend, but several times this week we were reminded of the great challenges facing us all.

Early in the week RTÉ’s Prime Time highlighted the desperate, shameful plight of home carers. We saw how their lives are diminished by the cuts in the minimal support they need to live a life that, even at its best, most of us would not recognise as normal. It was impossible not to feel shamed and angry that so many of our neighbours have to fight so very hard to look after their dependants. It was very hard not to think that there must be a better way to deal with the day’s challenges without making already very difficult lives almost intolerable.

If any good came of the publicity surrounding the carers’ plight it was the sense of outrage, barely suppressed, shown by Health Minister Dr James Reilly when he acknowledged the great urgency needed in confronting these issues. He must now match his words with effective action.