AN ESTIMATED 350,000 people provide unpaid help or assistance to people living in their homes or in other private households, a survey has found.
A Central Statistic Office (CSO) report on carers published yesterday shows 8 per cent of adults over 15 are providing unpaid assistance to people with disabilities or suffering ill-health.
Two-thirds of carers say their own health and lifestyle has been impacted by their caring responsibilities. Some 38 per cent of carers who look after someone living in their household report feeling “completely overwhelmed” by their caring responsibilities.
Enda Egan, chief executive of the Carers’ Association, welcomed the report, which shows a big increase in the number of people classifying themselves as carers.
The 2006 census of population showed 4.9 per cent of the population or 161,000 provided regular unpaid help for a friend or family member.
“The wording used in census 2006 referred to those who provide ‘unpaid care’ meaning that some genuine carers who were in receipt of Carer’s Allowance did not answer this question as they believed the CA payment meant they were in effect paid.
“The figure of 8 per cent provides a more realistic reflection of the amount of Irish people providing care for a loved one,” he said. The CSO report shows that almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of carers are women and nearly half of all carers (48 per cent) identified by the report are between 45 years and 64 years.
Four in 10 carers look after a parent or parent-in-law and the same percentage (40 per cent) are the sole carer for the person they are looking after. A third of carers are caring for someone who needs care due to old age, while a third of carers, who help someone living in their own household, have been caring for 10 years or more.
Some 44 per cent of carers reported that the impact of caring was “confining” and 43 per cent said it had led to “family adjustment”. Some 19 per cent said they felt a “financial strain” due to their caring responsibility. Carers who live in the same house as the person they are caring for are more likely to face negative impacts on their lives.
Just under half (47 per cent) spend more than 15 hours per week providing care and 21 per cent spend more than 57 hours per week. The survey was conducted between July and September 2009. Some 21,500 people over 15 years of age took part.