Thousands sign petition for restoration of respite grant for carers

More than 2,500 people have signed a petition in recent days calling on the Government to restore the 19 per cent cut made to the respite grant for carers in last year’s budget. Hopes were high among carers that the €325 cut in the grant would be reinstated in this month’s budget, but this did not happen.

Paid annually in June, the domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was originally designed to help fund alternative care arrangements for carers so they could take a short break. In practice, it is used as “rainy day money” by many families put to the pin of their collar after successive cuts.

Constrained from lobbying actively or organising public protests because of their high care commitments, carers have gone online to voice their frustration. Many of those signing the petition at change.org have highlighted the difference the grant makes to their lives.

"It gave us temporary breathing space from the bills," says Ruth Gilhool, spokeswoman for the DCA Warriors, a 4,000-strong online discussion group for families caring for special needs or very sick members. "It covered the cost of the car tax, put heating oil in the tank and paid for books for children returning to school."

Gilhool, from Ennis, Co Clare, and her husband have two boys, one of whom has autism and cancer. "We can't bring him to places that are too open or to places that are too crowded. It's not the sort care where you knock off at five o'clock; it's seven days a week, full on."

They haven’t had a family holiday in four years. She and her husband had one night away from the children this year and one last year. Gilhool had a bathroom supplies business that didn’t survive the bust and her husband is still suffering side-effects after enduring a bout of cancer. “We don’t go around with the poor mouth, but I’ve never been so poor. It’s a day-to-day struggle.”

Last year’s cut to the respite grant was “a kick in the teeth,” she says. “We were made feel like dirt, that the job we were doing was worth nothing. Now we are barely surviving.”

Sinn Féin's Aengus Ó Snodaigh has called on Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton to amend forthcoming legislation to allow the grant to be increased from €1,375 to €1,700. "The cut extinguished any meaningful chance of respite for those families. It also had a demoralising effect on this already fragile group," he told the Dáil last week.

However, Ms Burton said the number of people claiming the allowance had increased from 80,000 to 90,000, putting the available budget under pressure.