Carers Association

The Carers Association was founded in 1987 and was the first national carers association for lobbying government, representing family carers and advocate for carers rights in Ireland. The national census of 2006 shows that there are 160,917 people who stated that they are carers and almost 41,000 of these carers are providing 43 or more hours of care each week. The association estimates that carers provide 194 million hours of care a year to the value of about 2.5 billion Euros to the economy. Approximately 33,000 full-time carers qualify for the Carers Allowance from the government. This Allowance is means tested. The government has committed to developing a National Carers Strategy by the middle of 2008.