Tag Archives: special needs

Sinn Féin TD for Clare, Violet-Anne Wynne has expressed her delight at being appointed to the Dáil select committee on the Rights for People with Disabilities. Deputy Wynne said she is very passionate on the topic of people with disabilities and has experience and knowledge in this area since completing her degree in Psychology from Trinity College Dublin in 2009. “Over the years I have gained experience working with the home help services and I fully understand the frustrations that parents with children with special needs face, as my third born Travis was diagnosed in 2017 with Autism. I would hope that this experience will stand to me when dealing with the issues people bring forward to me,” she said. The Clare TD will be working alongside her party colleague Deputy Pauline Tully to ensure that the concerns of people living with disabilities right across this country are highlighted at the highest level. “I have been raising the difficulties being …

Clare Crusader’s Clinic is facing the threat of closure by 2020, unless major Government funding is provided on a annual basis. While neither of the co-founders, Councillor Ann Norton and Frank Cassidy, want to close the clinic, they have warned its current losses are unsustainable without Government funding. In the wake of the Console scandal, the co-founders have decided to open the accounts for the first time to dispel the perception that it has loads of spare cash. According to profit and loss accounts provided to The Clare Champion, the clinic has accumulated losses of €107,341. The charity made a slight profit of €1,495 in 2012, a profit of €14,615 in 2013 before sustaining a major loss of €48,523 in 2014. The clinic suffered further losses of €17,587 last year and €41,231 for the first six months of this year. Fundraising from 2005 to 2016 generated a gross return of €2,684,779, less €395,931 in costs, giving a net figure of …

A North Clare special needs child is the first in the county to receive an assistance dog from a new national charity. Karen Murtagh, who lives in Ennistymon, has described the arrival of Rocco, a nine-month-old black Labradoodle as a “godsend” for her son, Stephen (10), who has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Stephen is one of the lucky children who are benefiting from 48 service dogs provided by My Canine Companion, which trains dogs to assist children and young adults living with ASD. It is the only charity that will give an assistance dog to a child over 10 years of age, as other organisations like to pair an animal with a younger child. Each dog costs the charity over €10,000 to train and Karen will have to raise half of this figure over the coming years. Businesses in Lahinch, where she was born on Main Street, are already rallying around this worthy cause. The 19th Bar in Lahinch has …