AS I SEE IT
BY MARIANNE HERON
The resounding defeat by 74% of the care amendment to the Constitution must tell us something about our feelings about how carers are treated. There is another litmus test on care in the Supreme Court since April 11, which could have systemic importance for those caring full-time at home. It involves a mother providing care for her profoundly handicapped son 24/7 and she is challenging the Department of Social Protection’s decision not to allow her the full rate of carer’s allowance (€246) because her partner and father of their son earns €850 although she has no means herself.
Her case rests partly on the provision in Article 41 of the Constitution which states that a woman should not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour outside the home. If the ‘family’ amendment had been carried this section would have been struck out and the chances of her challenge succeeding might have been undermined.
The Government said that the fact that the referendums were held on March 8 ahead of the court case was purely co-incidental. I have to wonder though, given that the Coalition were anticipating a ‘yes, yes ’ removing the untested promise to women.
Does the State care enough about family carers given their commitment to demanding care within the home?
There are an estimated half a million of them, who save the Government about €20 billion by looking after family members with additional needs.
“We often describe ourselves the invisible army,” says Catherine Cox,” for Communications and Policy, Family Carers Ireland (FCI). “We work behind closed doors and we get taken for granted because we are not going to down tools and go on strike.”
A study carried out by FCI suggests that carers (61% of whom are women and 39% men) hardly get the help and support they deserve. For instance, the study found that 70% had difficulties accessing services around care, 69% experienced barriers to respite care to allow them a break ranging from a day off to a holiday, 68% percent experienced financial stress and 71% felt ‘left out’. Reduction in places for respite and staffing shortages resulting in long waits, add to their stress.
“One of the good things about the referendum was that it got people talking about care,” says Catherine Cox. Among the complex reasons in the care community for a No vote were the way people felt that the amendment didn’t place a firm obligation on the Government to support care but placed it in the family and lack of provision for the disabled. People were angry about the lack of resources given to care and also to the disabled, believes Catherine.
“We are crucial to the Health Service but we are not valued.”
There are many things which CFI would like to see changed for carers. One of the big ones says Catherine “is that we would like to see the means test for full-time carers caring for 35 hours a week plus, and which takes a partner’s income into account, abolished. The allowance should be based on need not on means”. Also FCI want to see the payment raised from €246 a week to 350. Around 57% of carers juggle part-time jobs with caring to make ends meet.
Care may involve all kinds of situations from children with additional needs to the elderly and the demand for elder care is set to increase given our ageing population. There is a crying need for access to appropriate respite care. “People need a break from full time caring, they can suffer from burnout and people being cared for need a break from their families,” says Catherine.
Another tribulation is the long waiting time for therapies and support for those being cared for which is lengthen by the waiting time for assessment of need of those in care before they can access services and medical treatment. The long waiting time for treatment for children with scoliosis is a case in point, where sometimes they wait for years and the longer they have to wait, the worse their condition gets.
We have a Government which cares to spend €16 million plus on a referendum no one wanted or €10 million on the Battle of the Boyne site under the Shared Island Initiative.
Perhaps the defeat of the referendum should tell them that they don’t care enough about carers and their loved ones.
