Reflecting on a lifetime of caring

At 91, Jane O’Neill is fulfilling a role that people 30 years her junior would have trouble performing. Originally from Delvin, Westmeath, Jane has acted as the primary carer for her special needs daughter, Brigid, for 60 years.
To this day, nothing fazes her. Perhaps the nerve and fortitude she displayed driving lorries during WWII in England steeled Jane for life’s challenges. That, and her devotion to Padre Pio.
Recently she was presented with an Outstanding Carer Award by the Minister for Health and Older People, Áine Brady, at the National Respite weekend for carers in Galway. One of 4,650 carers in Clare, Jane and 11 additional Clare carers were presented with long-term care certificates.
Her husband, Michael, died in 1973 and she has two sons, John and Michael. Since her early 30s, Jane has combined looking after Brigid with working for the Ironside family in Spanish Point, where she became more of a family member than an employee.
“She had been away for three months one time but it didn’t work out and I’ve been looking after her ever since,” Jane told The Clare Champion, describing how she has looked after her only daughter for a lifetime.
“I never got anybody in to help. I knew how to work her and how to get the best out of her,” she added.
Jane would have liked some help from the health service but although she applied for aid, she was refused.
“I applied for the half care allowance and I was turned down completely. I filled all the forms and everything but I was totally turned down. I was getting a small pension from England. I gave them the bank statement because it’s always paid into the bank but they still wanted documents from England. But I would not give them that. I gave them a copy of the bank statements. All they wanted was to just put me out,” Jane said.
As she gets older, Jane appreciates the help given to her by her son John and his wife Bridie. She also believes that her devotion to Padre Pio has helped her through life’s challenges. Jane has visited San Giovanni Rotondo, Padre Pio’s home in southern Italy, eight times since 1975.
“I was out there even two years ago. I was awarded from the lady here for my 90th birthday,” Jane said, nodding towards Lucy Ironside.
“I think Padre Pio is fairly near to me. I get a scent of him a lot of the time,” she added. “You and Padre Pio kept us on the straight and narrow,” Lucy said to Jane, who also taught the Ironside children how to drive when they were growing up.
“She taught us to drive when we were about 13. She taught my twin sister and I and she taught a lot of people around Spanish Point how to drive. There was no driving instructors in those days. She was great and did it out of the pure kindness of her heart,” Lucy said.
When Jane found herself heading for the ditch, more often than was reasonable, she parked her car for the final time. 
“I had my eyesight done there a couple of years ago. It wasn’t a great success and I was driving a bit to the left. Too much to the left. T’was a bit dangerous. So I got rid of the car. But I still have the licence,” she said.
More than 65 years ago, Jane lived and worked in Oxford, England. It was there she met her late husband, Michael, and it was in Oxford that her driving ability helped the war effort. Jane often drove her lorry to an aeroplane accident scene and transported the plane back to the repair yard in Oxford.
“I was driving heavy trucks during the war years. We used to bring the planes in to be repaired. We’d drive them from one place to another. Sixty foot American trailers used to come in there as well,” she said.
Before emigrating to England, Jane didn’t drive.
“Not really, I learned there. I got a car and then when they thought I was good enough, they gave me a lorry. That was my own lorry for as long as I was there,” she remembers.
Jane worked for the Ironside’s for 33 years in west Clare. Lucy Ironside sat beside Jane during her chat with The Clare Champion and made it clear how the family felt about her.
“Jane is an incredible woman who dedicated her life to looking after everybody. She’s been Nana Janie to all our children and another mother to us. We were very lucky indeed,” Lucy said.
“And her son John and Bridie, his wife, have the exact same caring qualities,” she added.
Jane didn’t deflect the compliment but attributes her longevity and energy to application and attitude.
“Plenty hard work. Work is work. You have to do it and that’s it,” Jane concluded, showing no sign of slowing down as she nears 92.