Angry parents take to streets over care payments

Anger at the stressful and humiliating process being endured by hundreds of parents across Meath when applying for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) for autistic children will see a large group of Meath parents take to the streets of Dublin to protest next week. Among them will be Navan mother, Trish Flood, who is taking High Court action against the Minister for Social Protection next month to seek a judicial review of the DCA process. She said the constant stress of fighting for the monthly allowance for her two sons has taken a terrible toll on her health and she ended up in hospital last week with a mini-stroke. The protesters want to highlight the trauma endured by hundreds of parents across Meath who regularly find their allowance is being cut. DCA is a monthly payment made to parents of children with special needs. Since the administration of this scheme was taken over by the Department of Social Protection in 2009, the refusal rate has increased dramatically. Last year, 52 per cent of all cases appealed were reinstated. The DCA Warriors are a group of parents from all over the country who will march to the Dail on Tuesday. The theme of their protest is 'Walk a mile in our children's shoes'. "We will be bringing children's shoes to represent the children we care for," Mrs Flood explained. Immediately after the protest, the shoes will be recycled by Sean Bróga, the company run by Navan man, Brendan Kiernan, which recycles old shoes for developing countries.