Kilrush FF Cumann lays down a challenge to TDs

EMMET Greaney, secretary of the Kilrush Fianna Fáil Cumann has challenged Clare’s three Government TDs to “stop this Government from further attacking the weak and vulnerable”.
In a statement issued this week, he claimed the disadvantaged area and the disabled persons’ schemes now face losing funding from local authorities across the country.
“From the viewpoint of my sister, I have seen first hand how such funding to the disabled helps both families and the community as a whole and how it creates a better standard of life for those with disabilities,” Mr Greaney said.
“Galway County Council last week admitted that because of the shortfall in the household charge payments across the county, payments to these schemes would be cut or postponed. This sets a precedent for the rest of the country. Cork has now begun deferring such payments, leaving the possibility of the same happening here in Clare,” Mr Greaney claimed.
“These grants and schemes are used to improve the homes of the elderly and disabled, to make it suitable for that person to live in their home for as long as is possible. Grants such as these and payments to carers have saved this State countless amounts of money. There is no alternative that would provide all of the work a carer does, for the little amount of money they receive,” he said.
He stated that the household charge was brought in by the Government to continue funding services that “are essential to your community”.
“Yet to date, all I have seen is a reduction or complete halt to these services that are so essential. I am lucky to be in a house that, for the moment, is able to and has paid the household charge. However, that may not always be the case in the future, particularly if the charge increases. For those unable to pay the charge, the possibility of a €2,500 fine for non-compliance would further devastate those families that are already struggling to survive day-to-day,” Mr Greaney concluded.