New figures on the State's carers emphasise the vital importance of proper funding for people who are often isolated, depressed and vulnerable as they work unpaid hours caring for ill or disabled older parents, spouses and children, a lobby group has said.
Age Action Ireland, which campaigns on older people's issues, was commenting on figures from the Central Statistics Office which show that carers are mainly middle-aged women in rural areas, with 40,526 of the 148,754 carers providing care for 43 hours or more per week.
The CSO figures released yesterday show 324,000 people, or 8.3 per cent of the total population, have a long-term health problem or disability, based on responses to questions in the 2002 census. Women account for over 91,000 (61 per cent) of all carers and half of them were in their 40s or 50s. More than one in 10 women in the 40 to 49 age group is a carer.
Age Action said figures from the three health boards in the Eastern Regional Health Authority indicate that home help service provision will hardly increase in 2004 compared to last year, despite an extra €1.172 million being provided across the region.
The body indicated that some health boards would simply retain their existing levels of service this year, leaving funding for certain home care packages virtually static.
The Labour Party spokesman on social and family affairs, Mr Willie Penrose, called for the immediate implementation of the Oireachtas report on carers.
"Last November the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs launched a major report on the rights and needs of carers. This report followed widespread consultation with groups representing crers and the consideration of 84 submissions on the subject by the committee.
"Official figures now show the huge number of people in this country who act as carers, either alongside their ordinary job, or as a full-time vocation. This situation fully justifies the report's recommendation for the abolition of the means test for the Carers Allowance, more investment in respite care and needs assessment for carers.
"Almost four months on from the publication of the report, nothing has been done to improve the plight of carers. It is time to start developing more adequate and comprehensive services for the 150,000 carers in Ireland, to promote those improvements in service provision which experience shows are needed," he said.