AROUND 300 CARERS and their families from across Ireland picketed Leinster House earlier today over the 9 per cent cut to the Respite Care Grant announced in the Budget last week.
The Department of Social Protection intends to cut the annual payment from €1,700 to €1,325 next year, which will mean a cut of between €10 to €20 in many carers weekly earnings.
The protest coincided with a Dáil debate on the Social Welfare Bill.
Catherine Cox of The Carers Association told TheJournal.ie that a lot of angry people attended the protests today:
I hope the message was made that carers are more angry today as they’ve had time to think about it [the cuts].Carers will continue to keep the pressure up because they feel very strongly about this issue and they will continue to fight.
Here are the pictures of the young and old protesting on Kildare Street in the cold :
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