Brian Quinn's brother, Niall (47), has the mental age of a seven-year-old child. He is cared for by the Brothers of Charity in Limerick. Brian suffers from ill-health and lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Ennis. If the strike by residential care workers goes ahead on Monday, Niall's care facilities will close. Brian believes that an exception will be made for Niall but if it isn't, he is willing to give up his bed for his brother.
"I'll sleep on the floor. I don't care where I sleep. I would do anything for him because he is very, very special. If I had to crawl on my hands and knees to Limerick and carry him home on my back, I would do it. He's my brother."
Niall was brain-damaged at birth but lives a full and happy life in care, according to Brian. He spends his days at the Brothers' Bawnmore facility and by night shares a supervised house with other people with disabilities.
"He is over 6 ft tall, he can do a 1,000-piece jigsaw and is very dextrous with his hands. But he is a child really. He couldn't be left on his own," says Brian.
Niall was cared for by his mother until she died 10 years ago aged 77.
"I remember years ago when he walked down to the shop he would be pelted with stones. He was insulted and degraded and humiliated," Brian recalls. "That was years ago but people still have a bad attitude about mental handicap. The Government is pumping billions into roads and infrastructure, yet they cannot afford to pay these people."
Brian says care workers have a case for pay parity with childcare staff. "They do an amazing amount of work. They are friends, guardians and helpers."
He believes the Government is ignoring the plight of the disabled because they do not vote. "That makes me upset. These people are so special because they have such an innocence in a cruel world. Our priorities are all wrong."
He emphasises his case is not serious compared with parents in their 80s, struggling to cope with children in their 40s and 50s.
