News
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Carer’s Support Grant
Q: I have recently become a full-time carer for my mother. What is the Carer’s Support Grant and can I get it?
A: The Carer's Support Grant is an annual payment for full-time carers, paid by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) usually on the first Thursday in June each year. The grant for 2021 is €1,850. It is paid automatically to people getting Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit or Domiciliary Care Allowance. Other carers may qualify for the grant.
To qualify, you must be over 16 and:
• Caring for a person who needs help due to age, illness or disability
• Have cared for the person full-time for at least six months, to include the first Thursday in June
• Live with the person or be contactable immediately if you live elsewhere
• Live full-time in Ireland and do not live in a medical facility
You won’t qualify if you are working, studying or training more than 18.5 hours a week, getting a jobseeker’s payment or signing on for credits during the six-month caring period.
Q: How do I apply and where?
A: If you already get Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit or Domiciliary Care Allowance, you get the Carer’s Support Grant automatically in June 2022. If you do not get one of these payments, you can still qualify and should fill out one application form for each person you care for.
You can also pick up a form from your Intreo Centre or Social Welfare Branch Office or Citizens Information Centre.
You can apply for a Carer's Support Grant for any given year from April of that year until December 31 of the following year.
Read more about the Carer’s Support Grant on citizensinformation.ie or you can call a member of the local Citizens Information Service in Kerry on 0818 07 7860. The telephone lines are staffed from 10am to 4pm from Monday to Friday. The National Phone Service is available on 0818 07 4000 Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm. Alternatively, you can email tralee@citinfo.ie or log on to www.citizensinformation.ie.
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News
Developing St Finan’s “cost prohibitive” – Council
Converting the idle St Finan’s hospital into social housing is cost-prohibitive according to Kerry County council officials. The historic building has been lying idle since it closed in September 2012. […]
Converting the idle St Finan’s hospital into social housing is cost-prohibitive according to Kerry County council officials.
The historic building has been lying idle since it closed in September 2012.
The hospital and adjoining lands are up for sale by the Health Service Executive (HSE) since then.
So far no realistic offer has been made on the site despite suggestions that it could be used for social housing, a catering college and a hotel.
Each year the building, which was built in the 1850s, falls into further disrepair.
There were fresh calls again this week as local councillors called for some sort of action to redevelop the site that is fast becoming an eyesore.
At last Friday’s Killarney Municipal District meeting councillors called for action at the site .
Mayor Brendan Cronin wants the building’s protected status to be removed or at least reduced to speed up potential development work which ties in with Cllr Marie Moloney’s idea that the old hospital could be converted into apartments or flats.
Cllr John O’Donoghue wants the HSE to find a way to hand over the property to Kerry County Council either by way of reduced payment or an intra-government agency ownership change.
A Kerry County Council official told the meeting that any works to potentially convert the old hospital into social housing “would be cost prohibitive.”
News
Eight month wait for a driving test in Killarney
A Killarney councillor is calling for action in an effort to reduce the driving test wait list in Killarney The current wait list for a test in Killarney sits at […]
A Killarney councillor is calling for action in an effort to reduce the driving test wait list in Killarney
The current wait list for a test in Killarney sits at eight months.
Cllr John O’Donoghue raised the issue at Monday’s full meeting of Kerry County Council.
He proposed that driving instructors should be employed to carry out the final test to reduce the current backlog.
At Monday’s meeting he asked that hat Kerry County Council would write to the Minister for Transport to ask him to consider giving driving instructors temporary powers to issue a temporary Driving Licence/Certificate of Competence to those on the waiting list for tests.
“The wait is currently far too long and the system is in danger of becoming completely overwhelmed,” he said.
“The huge waiting list for young drivers is well documented at this stage. In a case I am familiar with, a young person passed their theory test in January 2022 and he immediately applied for his mandatory 12 driving lessons. When these were completed, he applied for his driving test on the 2nd of December 2022. Some weeks ago, he still had not received an application to apply for his driving test. This wait is placing him and his family under considerable extra cost and stress which is completely unacceptable.”
In the course of his research into the matter Cllr O’Donoghue discovered that the next available date for a driving test in Killarney is May 25, 2024, while Tralee is June 3 2024.
“Bear in mind, these are only the dates on which you receive an invitation to book your test, the test itself will then be an estimated three to five weeks later.
“This is an appalling situation and one which needs to be rectified as a matter of urgency. I am proposing that driving instructors, which presumably are fully trained up on the rules of the road, be granted temporary powers to be allowed to issue temporary driving licences to young people. When the waiting list time has been reduced, I would still propose that these people sit the test as usual, but the current pressure needs to be alleviated as soon as possible. There is precedent as I believe that in the 1970s, a cohort in this country were issued driving licences without having sat a test as the wait time for the test was too long.”
Developing St Finan’s “cost prohibitive” – Council
Converting the idle St Finan’s hospital into social housing is cost-prohibitive according to Kerry County council officials. The historic building...
Eight month wait for a driving test in Killarney
A Killarney councillor is calling for action in an effort to reduce the driving test wait list in Killarney The...
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