'Donegal mother left feeling like sick child was used as a prop by government'

The case of a Donegal boy with cerebral palsy has been highlighted in a call for funds promised to Children’s Disability Services to be provided immediately

In October 2023, the Children’s Disability Services Grant scheme was announced as emergency funding. It has still not been administered to successful applicants.

In making a fresh plea for the funds to be released, Donegal TD Pearse Doherty mentioned the case of Killygordon mother Denise McGahern, whose nine-year-old son, Jack Donaghey, has cerebral palsy and is a permanent wheelchair user.

Having sought answers, Sinn Féin Deputy Doherty says that he has been told by the Department that not only is there no money but that this money was never there at all.

“In June 2024, two days before the local elections, Minister Anne Rabbitte travelled with Minister Charlie McConalogue to Letterkenny to announce that an immediate allocation of €3.6 million in funding to provide essential therapies to four organisations in Donegal,’ Deputy Doherty said.

“Denise was asked if she and her son Jack would attend the announcement. They were included in the photos with the Ministers. They listened to Anne Rabbitte when she told the media that the money would be an ‘absolute game changer’ for children in Donegal.

“They could finally see a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. But 17 months since the Minister’s first announcement, that light has vanished. Because none of this money has been released. Not one red cent. Not in Donegal. Not anywhere in the country.

“Denise has been fighting for physio and speech and language therapy that he so desperately needs and this money was to be allocated within weeks of the Minister’s announcement. 52 organisations across the state were to benefit from it but months later nothing happened.”

Deputy Doherty branded this a “scandal” and said that children with special needs and their parents have been left behind by the government

He said: “My own county of Donegal has become a black spot for supports for children with special needs. For years, parents have been forced to go it alone.”

Addressing the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, Deputy Doherty said Ms McGahern is devastated and feels betrayed.

He said: “She feels that her son Jack was used by the government as a prop, and in a photo opportunity during an election campaign. And I imagine that parents of children with special needs right across the state feel the same way. Let down. Betrayed. Again.

“Now Tánaiste, you were Taoiseach at the time. How on earth did a Minister in your government travel to Donegal to make an announced that emergency funding was to be provided within weeks to desperate families when the money was never cleared and didn’t exist?

“This was cruel. And you tell me today when I raise this in the Dáil that you’ll look into this and the money will be released. This has been going on for a year and a half and this is only happening because the HSE are not providing the services.

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“Jack has not had any physio or any speech and language from the HSE for a year and a half. The Department made a promise in front of that child that he would get the service. It is scandalous. And I’m asking you where is the accountability? How did this happen under your watch?