28,000 children in State may be carers

THERE COULD be as many as 28,000 children in the State under the age of 18 caring for relatives, an Oireachtas committee was told yesterday.

Carers Association senior policy officer Claire Duffy said the figure of 5,500 young carers as recorded in the last census was a “huge underestimation” as there was significant under-reporting and it did not include those under the age of 15. They will be included in the 2011 census.

She told the Joint Committee on Health and Children that figures presented by international expert Prof Saul Becker at the Carers Association’s recent conference in Croke Park suggested that there was closer to 28,000 young carers in Ireland under 18 and twice that aged under 25.

Those figures were based on detailed research carried out in other countries.

The issue of young carers was the subject of a report commissioned by the Office of the Minister for Children and carried out by the Child and Family Research Centre in NUI Galway.

The report, which was published last month, found that assuming such responsibility at a young age could have a positive impact on young carers and lead to greater maturity and compassion. Equally, it could also have a negative impact on the emotional life and the educational attainments of young carers.

Association chief executive Enda Egan acknowledged that the issue of young people looking after their parents, siblings or other relatives was one that a lot of people did not even know existed and there was no specific State supports for such carers.

“There is nothing for young carers in this country other than the existing services. There is nothing specific,” he told the committee.

He said Ireland was a “green field site” as regards the issue of young carers because the issue had never been properly addressed in the country before.