Live-in Care in Clare
Fully managed live-in care across Clare from Garda-vetted, experienced and insured carers — with someone in place within a few days.
Care usually starts within days, with no HSE assessment queue
Garda-vetted carers, employed and insured by us
One primary carer, with a familiar backup
4.8/5 on Google and 5/5 on Bark
What happens next
We call you back
Someone from our care team rings you to talk through what’s needed and answer your questions.
A short conversation
Which days and hours would help, what has got harder at home, and anything we should know about your loved one.
We match a carer
Garda-vetted, employed and insured by us. Care usually starts within days, sometimes sooner.
Two ways to arrange live-in care
Flex
A carer lives in the home and provides your agreed active care hours through the day, plus the reassurance of a carer resting in the home overnight.
Constant
A small team of carers provides cover around the clock, so someone is awake and on hand day and night. It suits higher-dependency needs.
What do our live-in carers help with?
Everyday support that keeps life at home going.
Medication
Housekeeping
Overnight Help
Personal care
Meal Prep
Companionship
How live-in care works in Clare
Distance decides a great deal about care in Clare. Between Carron and Kilfenora in the Burren, or out past Carrigaholt on the road to Kilbaha, houses are spread thin and Ennis is further off again. For someone who has made their life in a place like that, a live-in carer puts steady help under the same roof from morning to night.
Census 2022 counted 4,144 people aged 70 and over living alone in Clare, 29.7% of that age group in private households. For those in townlands outside Corofin, in the hills near Feakle or along the coast at Doonbeg, a few short visits can leave long hours with nobody in the house.
UIH matches your loved one with one primary carer and a familiar backup who covers time off, so the faces at the kitchen table stay familiar from week to week. The carer helps with washing and dressing, cooking, moving safely around the house and keeping the day's small routines going, from the morning paper to the fire lit in the evening. Help with medication is a prompt at the right time. Injections, wound dressings and insulin stay with the GP practice and the public health nurse. The care manager talks through anything else with you, including the practical side of having someone live in.
Live-in care across Clare
Live-in care is available in every corner of Clare, and it often suits the quieter ends of the county best. On the Loop Head peninsula that means homes around Kilbaha and Carrigaholt. In the Burren it reaches Ballyvaughan and Carron, and further east it covers Feakle and Mountshannon. Before a carer moves in, we agree the start date, the handover and the room arrangements with your family, so the first day runs to plan.
Towns and areas we cover
Ennis
Ennistymon
Killaloe
Shannon
Newmarket-on-Fergus
Lahinch
Kilrush
Sixmilebridge
Kilkee
HSE health region
HSE Mid West
Main hospital
University Hospital Limerick, Dooradoyle
Also nearby
Ennis Hospital · St John's Hospital, Limerick City
GP out of hours
ShannonDoc
Growing older at home in Clare
Water marks most of Clare's edges. The Atlantic runs down the west coast and Galway Bay lies to the north. The Shannon Estuary and the River Shannon curve around the south and south-east, and Lough Derg forms the eastern boundary from Mountshannon down to Killaloe. The limestone Burren covers the north-west, with the Cliffs of Moher on its Atlantic edge, and the south-west tapers to a peninsula ending at Loop Head.
Ennis, the county town, had 27,923 residents at Census 2022, about 22% of Clare's 127,938 people. Shannon followed with 10,256, and the next largest, Sixmilebridge, counted 2,832. Some 57,295 people, about 45% of the county, live outside any town, in open country such as the land around Kilfenora and Feakle.
Clare is also older than the State as a whole, with an average age of 40.1 against 38.8 nationally. It had 21,657 people aged 65 and over in 2022, 16.9% of residents compared with 15.1% across Ireland, up from 17,655 in 2016. Among over-75s in private households, 2,785 lived alone, or 33.6%.
This scattered settlement shapes care at home. In Ennis or Shannon, short visits at set times are easier to schedule. In a farmhouse off the Loop Head road or a townland in the east Clare hills, travel takes up more of each call, so longer blocks of care, or a carer who lives in, tend to fit better.
Sources: HSE, ShannonDoc, CSO, Transport for Ireland, TFI Local Link, Citizens Information, Clare County Council, Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Family Carers Ireland. Checked 23 October 2026.
Local support in Clare alongside private care
It helps to know what else Clare offers before care starts. Numbers and times change, so check first.
- TFI Local Link Limerick Clare lists 28 Clare services, nine on fixed timetables, such as the 331 from Ballyvaughan to Ennis by Lisdoonvarna and Ennistymon, and 19 book-ahead door-to-door runs. The Free Travel Pass is valid on all of them. Clare line 065 671 9101.
- Citizens Information has centres in Ennis, Kilrush and Shannon, and a national line on 0818 07 4000.
- Alzheimer Society of Ireland lists dementia day care at Cuan an Chláir, Cahercalla, Ennis, as well as the Clare Alzheimer Café, a Kilrush Activity Club, a Connect Café in Killaloe and a Clare Dementia Adviser. Helpline 1800 341 341.
- Clare Memory Technology Resource Room at St Joseph's Hospital, Ennis, shows assistive technology for people with memory difficulties, by appointment.
- Family Carers Ireland is at Suite 21, Clare Technology Park, Ennis (065 686 6515).
- Clare County Council's Age Friendly Programme works with the Clare Older People's Council and facilitates Clare Cultural Companions, a network for older people going to arts events together. Phone (065) 684 6240.
Setting up care after a hospital discharge in Clare
Coming home from University Hospital Limerick to a house at the far end of the county is a big step, particularly if your loved one is weaker than when they went in. Let us know the expected discharge date while they are still in Dooradoyle. Care usually starts within days, sometimes sooner, and your loved one's primary carer, with a familiar backup for time off, stays on through the weeks that follow, working around any advice from the hospital team and the GP.
Why families choose United Irish Healthcare
We employ, vet and insure every carer, and we arrange cover ourselves when your carer takes leave. Care usually starts within days, sometimes sooner, and your loved one has one primary carer with a familiar backup.
Why Clare families choose us
Loop Head sits at the tip of Clare's south-west peninsula, and for a home out near Kilbaha a carer who lives in avoids the long trip each daily visit would need.
On the west coast at Lahinch or Miltown Malbay, your loved one comes to know two carers well, the primary carer who lives in and a familiar backup for days off.
What families say
United Irish Healthcare have been beyond any of my expectations. UIH had us sorted in a matter of hours. I cannot thank Daniel, Olivia and Jean enough — highly recommend.
Doireann Kate Gough
We use UIH for night care for our Mam. The staff have been fantastic — it is very personal and she is comfortable with her carers.
Orla Daly
For the last 8 months Mum has had two very kind carers fulfilling her wish to stay in her own home. The peace of mind is well worth it.
Verified Google review
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a setup or placement fee?
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Yes. A one-time placement fee covers the work of assigning your carer and setting up the placement. Your care manager includes it in your quote, and a replacement carer never costs extra.
Can I decide which days and hours the carer works?
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Yes, you can specify the days and hours in accordance with your package. The number of days is flexible; a 24/7 package means a carer is available every day of the week.
Will I have the same carer consistently?
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Yes. You will have a designated primary carer, available except when on leave, on holiday, or unwell — when a reliable secondary carer familiar to the family and client steps in.
Does the carer have to live in the home full time?
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No. Our carers have their own homes and may return to them when they are off duty.
Questions about live-in care in Clare
Our loved one lives alone near Kilbaha. Can live-in care work that far out on the peninsula?
It can, and a remote address is where live-in care tends to make the most sense, since the carer lives in the house and no daily travel is involved. We will go through the practical details with you, such as shopping, the carer's time off and who covers it.
Can a live-in carer help our loved one keep going to dementia day care in Ennis?
The carer can have your loved one up, dressed and ready on day care mornings at Cuan an Chláir in Cahercalla, and be there when they get home. Transport is something to settle with the care manager. TFI Local Link runs book-ahead door-to-door services into Ennis, including the C24 from Bodyke and the C12 through Kilmaley, and accepts the Free Travel Pass.
Can you arrange care out on Loop Head or up in the Burren?
We can. UIH covers all 26 counties, and in Clare that includes places such as Kilbaha and Carrigaholt near Loop Head, or Carron and Ballyvaughan in the Burren. The care team will talk through visit times, or a live-in arrangement, based on where your loved one's home is and what they need. Call 0818 700 100.
Who do we ring in Clare when the GP surgery is closed?
ShannonDoc, the GP out-of-hours service for Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, on 0818 123 500. There is no walk-in. You phone first, someone rings you back, and an appointment is given if needed. The Ennis centre at the Primary Care Centre on Station Road opens from 6pm to 8am Monday to Thursday, from 6pm Friday through to 8am Monday, and around the clock on bank holidays, though hours can change. In an emergency, ring 999 or 112. The centres in Ennistymon, Kilrush, Miltown Malbay and Shannon see people by appointment only.
Where can we get advice on entitlements and the home care tax relief in Clare?
Citizens Information has three centres in the county. Ennis is at Bindon Lane, Bank Place (0818 07 5260), Kilrush is on Frances Street (0818 07 5310) and Shannon is at the Shannon Business Centre (0818 07 5370). Numbers and opening times can change, so check citizensinformation.ie first. Private home care can qualify for tax relief of up to 40% at your marginal rate, claimed on Form HK1, and our team will take you through it on 0818 700 100.
Up to 40%
home-carer tax relief at your marginal rate
Relief is claimed on Form HK1 at your marginal rate. Always check your position with Revenue.
