Visit by Minister Batt O Keefe
Pictured from left to right: IGDB Board Member Noel O' Regan, IGDB Chairman Tom Aplin, presenting a gift to Minister of Education, Batt O' Keeffe TD, and IGDB co-founder and current President of the Board Jim Dennehy.
At the end of February this year, Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Batt O’Keeffe TD visited our National Headquarters and Training Centre to catch up on progress with two of our programmes which are supported by the Department, namely The Child Mobility Programme and Assistance Dogs programme for families of children with Autism. While the visit included a tour around the grounds to view the current redevelopment work, it was soon down to business as our Chairman, Tom Aplin Board Member Noel O’Regan and Chief Executive, Padraig Mallon updated the Minister on the excellent results achieved through the two programmes.
The Assistance Dog Programme in particular was an important item on the agenda as all statutory funding for this service is set to run out at the end of 2009. The Department had committed a once off grant of €500k at the end of 2007 and this money has been enormously helpful during the past two years in helping to fund the programme. The programme will cost almost €1million to run in 2010 but unless statutory funding can be secured we will be totally reliant on fundraising and donations to fund this life changing service. The Minister took the opportunity during his visit to meet families who had been trained with an assistance dog and was very much impressed with the difference which it is making to their lives.
The Child Mobility Programme which was first introduced in 1996 is funded by the Department of Education by way of an annual grant. Our mobility Instructor Ms. Victoria Elliot works with 26 children in counties Cork ,Tipperary and Waterford providing them with mobility and life skills training which supports their participation in mainstream education. The Board Members and the CEO were keen to stress the importance of the programme and to seek the Minister’s support in ensuring that it is not threatened by the ongoing review of commitments by his Department.
Mr Tom Aplin presented the Minister with a momento to mark his visit and thanked him for taking the time from his busy schedule to spend time with us.
For his part Minister O’Keeffe praised the work of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and said that in so far as was possible he would be keen to support our plans.
