Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty has welcomed the long-awaited allocation of grants to children’s disability service providers, 20 months after they were due to be paid as an ’emergency measure’.
The Children’s Disability Service grant was launched in October 2023 and again in June 2024, and was to be used to fund projects helping children with special needs. Payment was expected to be made to successful applicants in December 2023.
After the controversial delay was revealed in March this year, it has now emerged that the groups will finally receive their allocations in full.
Deputy Doherty said it’s a good day for the four organisations in Donegal that will share €3.6million in funding, but added that the stress of the delay has taken the good out of the scheme.
The No Barriers Foundation was allocated €3,072,700 to advance vital services supporting children with disabilities in Donegal.
Finn Valley Leisure Centre was granted €34,000 to offer swimming lessons specifically designed for people with Down Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and Spina Bifida.
Health Hub Professionals NI was allocated €302,001 to provide physiotherapy, speech & language therapy, and occupational hand therapy with splinting services for children with disabilities living in Donegal.
Spraoi agus Spórt secured €210,000 to develop a more extensive and comprehensive package of play/music/art therapy services for children and young people with disabilities in Inishowen.
The children’s disability service funding was first launched in a blaze of publicity using Killygordon boy Jack Donaghey.
With no funding to be seen, Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty said Jack’s mother Denise McGahern felt as though her son was used as a prop and a photo opportunity during an election campaign.
Deputy Doherty said: “It’s not acceptable to announce funding two days before an election that there never was money made available for, making the mother of a child with Cerebral Palsy feel like her son had been used as a prop.
“Not acceptable, for the Tánaiste to tell me to my face that he was sorry and he would make amends only for successful applicants to be told that they needed to reapply for shortlisting, that the funding was no longer multiannual and that they were not guaranteed the money they were already publicly announced to have been awarded.
“When I raised this in the way that I did, with the support of Denise and Jack, did the government not – at some point in the last 20 months – recognise that they should release this money to help these children in desperate need of the services they were being denied?
“It was a farce, but I am relieved now that the government have finally decided to change their mind after my intervention on Thursday.
“Mindful of these previous false promises, I will continue to stay on top of this to ensure that every cent is made available to organisations as soon as possible.”
