Enda Egan: chief executive of The Carers' Association, working to promote carers' issues.
Our general day is 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Today, I'm in the office, but I'm probably on the road about three days a week, visiting our centres or, a lot of the time, going to meetings in Dublin.
There's a lot of time spent in the car and generally I wouldn't get home until eight or nine at night. I'm in the position of CEO about a year, but in the organisation for six-and-a-half years.
One of the huge parts of this job is to promote carers' issues. Every morning we get any mention of the word "carer" in the media locally or nationally in the newspapers or radio stations sent to us on the computer.
That keeps me up to date on what's happening and allows me to devise a particular strategy in response to a particular issue.
We've two regional managers and their job is to manage the day-to-day running of the work in the centres. I'm in close contact with them throughout the day to react to any of the general, mundane stuff that goes on in any organisation that employs 180 people.
My role is to motivate and lead what I feel are a terrific bunch of people. One of the main aspects you won't pick up in any of the managerial books is about listening to what people have to say.
Everybody says they listen, but some people listen better than others. It's vitally important that I listen to staff and that they have an input.
The majority of our 180 staff are going out into the homes of carers and they are dealing with people with a disability or dealing with the carer.
The main services we provide are home respite and the information service we run through our carers' resource centres. We have carers' support groups and our national freephone number.
We have to keep an eye on what calls are coming in, particularly if there is something happening like cutbacks in a particular health board area.
In the past, women traditionally provided the care and now you have two people needing to work because of things like mortgages and just the general cost of living.
People are finding it a lot more difficult to make the choice to stay at home and provide that care.
That's going to put huge pressure on the structures within the health service unless the Government replaces the current system.
There needs to be a system that recognises the work that carers do, gives them a full package of supports within the home along with remuneration for the work they are doing.
The other thing that makes up a huge part of the day is the finances and the constant struggle just to keep finances on target, keep money in the account and keep cashflow running smoothly. One of the main reasons I would be out late is going to fundraising functions.
I generally leave the office around 6.30 p.m. In Kilkenny, I'm about an hour-and-a-half away and if I'm in Tullamore it's about half an hour.
I'm only married about a month and we've just moved into our house. The only time we get to talk is at breakfast time or late in the evening.
(Interview by Elaine Edwards)
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