Tracy Carroll's two-year-old daughter Willow has the highest grade of cerebral palsy, is fed through a tube and will be in “nappies for the rest of her life.” The mum of two strongly criticised how the government means tests families who are struggling financially. She outlined to the Minister that she receives a €309 monthly domiciliary care allowance but it’s no sooner in her pocket before it’s spent.
Tracy has to travel from Kells to Dublin every week to get Willow to montessori because of a lack of facilities and staff suitable for her needs close by. Tracy gets nine hours of home help per week which she spends dropping her five year old son Noah to school and collecting Willow’s medication. Tracy said: “We should be given a yearly allowance to spend on services that we know would benefit our children. Instead of throwing money at it, they need to talk to parents to see exactly what is needed."
“The State are massively failing in every area of healthcare. I have no confidence in the services that are provided or that change is coming.”