Cork carer, 79, felt ‘humiliated’ applying for money to fix drier

A 79-YEAR-OLD Cork grandfather, who is the sole carer for his profoundly disabled daughter, has said he felt humiliated when applying for a supplementary welfare payment to cover the repair of their broken-down drier.

Billy Corcoran, a retired dock worker and Defence Forces veteran from The Glen, cares for his 43-year-old daughter Amanda, who has cerebral palsy.

“One of the side effects of the cerebral palsy is that Amanda is incontinent, so her bedclothes need changing constantly and the washing machine and drier are going non-stop,” Mr Corcoran told The Echo.

“The drier packed up on me, and I had a fella call out to repair it, and that cost €170.”

Mr Corcoran’s 27-year-old granddaughter, who recently had a baby, also lives in his house because, due to the housing crisis, she cannot secure a place of her own.

“The laundry would be that high,” Mr Corcoran said, holding his hand shoulder-high.

“I paid €70 before to fix it — and there’s a bearing going that could go any minute.”

Mr Corcoran applied for a supplementary welfare payment to cover the cost of the repairs and, he said, he found the Department of Social Protection “unhelpful” and the necessary form to be over-complicated.

“I have no problem filling in forms, but it says: ‘Please produce a letter from the GP’,” he said.

“You have to wait three weeks for a GP appointment, so how am I going to get a letter from him?”

Similarly, Mr Corcoran said, the form required three months’ worth of bank statements, but he is not internet-savvy and cannot access statements.

“It was a very humiliating experience,” he said “I felt that their first reaction was to say ‘No’, or that I wouldn’t be entitled.”

Mr Corcoran has cared for Amanda for almost two decades and also cared for his wife Mary for six years as she lived with an acquired brain injury until she died in 2012.

“I have great home helps who call in the morning and evening, and Enable Ireland take Amanda in the afternoon, but from 4pm I’m here minding her,” he said.

“Being a carer is a tough bloody job, but because I’m on a widower’s pension, €246 a week, I’m only entitled to a half carer’s allowance, €127.

“I spend €100 a week heating the house, and the electricity is €40 a week.

“I worked hard all my life. I worked 30 years as a docker.

“I served my country. I was with the 36th Battalion at the Battle of the Tunnel, in the Congo in 1961, when we lost nine guys, three of them Irish soldiers.

“I was only just turned 18.

“I don’t need charity from no one, I just wanted help when I was in trouble with my drier and it would be nice if you were treated with a small bit of humanity by the country you love.

“I think carers are very badly treated in this country, because we save the Government millions upon millions,” Mr Corcoran added.

“If, for one day, every carer in Ireland brought the person they’re caring for and landed them in A&E, the country would collapse.”

The Department of Social Protection was contacted for comment.