CARERS MOTION: Tipperary CEO says ‘The council cannot take from one to give to another’

Tipperary County Council Chief Executive Sinead Carr has said adjusting the rent means testing for carers would mean “taking from one to give to another”.

That was in response to a motion put forward by Richie Molloy at last week’s sitting of Tipperary County Council. 
Cllr Molloy’s motion proposed:

“That this council will disregard the half-rate Carer’s Allowance in full, the Disability Allowance received by children aged between 16 and 18 in full, and the Carer’s Allowance at the basic rate of social welfare when calculating the rent of Council tenants under the Differential Rent Scheme.

“It’s my understanding that there are plans for a national Differential Rent Scheme, however, this has yet to be published.

“The Council should implement changes to its Differential Rent Scheme based on this motion, and again when the national differential rent plan has been published.”

Cllr Molloy said a new study by Family Carers Ireland found Tipperary was the third most expensive council for carers. 
He said he knows he put forward the motion last year and it was defeated but since then the Government have done no more to support carers. 

He therefore felt the council should reconsider.

Cllr Molloy said “carers are the invisible backbone of the health service” and the local authority should do more to support them. 

The motion was seconded by Cllr Jim Ryan, who said the Minister needed to “cop himself on a bit.”

While Cllr Molloy’s motion last October was defeated, an amendment by Cllr Marie Murphy to write to the Minister did pass.

Cllr Murphy said her amendment was based on council figures that showed that while Cllr Molloy’s proposal would benefit 600 families, 4000 would be worse off. 

She said she would love to support the motion but cannot if the cost will be on other families. “Has that shortfall evaporated?” asked Cllr Murphy.

Similarly, Cllr Roger Kennedy said he agreed with the “sentiment” of the motion but could not support burdening others with the cost. 

Tipperary County Council Chief Executive Sinead Carr said that if the was anything she could have done last October when this was discussed last, she would have. 

However, the situation has not changed.

“Other tenants have issues in their lives, and it wasn’t fair.

“The local authority cannot solve everyone's problems; we can only be as compassionate as we can. This is not an issue we can solve, said Ms Carr.

Cllr Molloy said the study by Family Carers Ireland, “makes us look poor in Tipperary.”

Ms Carr said while the study may have found that Tipperary came third, every county is different, and this is a multi-factor issue.
 The council, she said “cannot take from one to give to another”.