Branch Story - Balbriggan/North County Dublin

The Ripple Effect of one Guide Dog

A history of the Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Irish Guide Dogs

At the age of 16, I realised for the first time that my eyesight was not as good as my family and friends', but it took me to the age of 27 to fully learn that I was losing my eyesight because of a genetic condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa.

In 1980, I got married to Breege, and we bought our home in Balbriggan, but I was struggling with the loss of my eyesight and, now and again, used a white cane. No long cane training was available in Ireland at the time, and my first mobility lesson was when a white cane arrived in the post, from an organisation in Ireland representing blind people that I had registered with; it was not Irish Guide Dogs. It came with a black marker printed note saying "The best of luck with your mobility".

In January 1981, I found a way to do a 6-week residential course in Nottingham in the U.K run by The Royal National Institute for the Blind. This enabled me to use the long cane properly when I got home, but I never liked it, and it’s fair to say I knew every lamp post in Balbriggan. The local people saw me struggling with the cane and with my loss of vision, as every day I travelled to and from work by train to Dublin.

In November 1983, I applied to Irish Guide Dogs for a guide dog, and in April 1985, my guide dog Frank arrived. At that point, I was transformed into an independent, happy-go-lucky, chatty man, boarding a train for Dublin, smiling or heading out with my wife and our small children for lunch at the weekend or for an evening's walk by the beach.

I was stopped many times and asked, ‘How much did you pay for that incredible dog?’ and was told, ‘You look so much more at peace and much happier these days", which I was. Breege and I spoke about how Frank had changed our lives, and we decided to set up the Balbriggan Branch of Irish Guide Dogs in 1987. It wasn’t difficult to find people to make up a committee, as people just saw the difference a guide dog was making to my life and that of my family.

Our first fundraising event was a dog walk. We started small with around 10 of us on the walk. One man, Tommy Murray, who came along that day, is still today involved with the Branch.

In 1991, Breege got her first guide dog Gypsie. We were always a couple who socialised together and became great friends with more local people. Our first branch meeting venue was a small room in the back of the Central Lounge in Balbriggan. During that meeting and over many a pint in the subsequent years, I’ve met many people who ask the same set of questions as those asked back in 1987, and these people are now part of our Branch, one couple being Marie and Eamonn Deegan. My train journeys made the Branch many friends who became volunteers, and one such person is Elaine Skehan from Skerries, whose husband Brian did the daily journey beside me to Dublin. Dogs were our opening topic of conversation, which led to lifetime friendships and solid Branch members.

Over the past 39 years, we have raised more than €5 million. The tentacles of our fundraising in Balbriggan have resulted in the setting up of the Tuam Branch by my sister Mary Byrne, who raises about €20,000 annually and the foundation of the Cavan Branch by the late Brid McEvoy and Patricia Hannick in 2018, raising up to €10,000 annually.

The biggest single fundraiser I was involved in raised €127,000 from one tractor run in Ballinalee Co. Longford, organised by my late wife's nephew, Liam Reilly and his friends. We have a friend, Liz, in a small town called Bailieborough Co. Cavan who has run the Women's Mini Marathon for us 7 years in a row. A company called Roe Oil and the manager, Paula Roe, take Christmas cards to their Spar Shop each year for us, and she also has a counter box, all because SHE and her sister Mary met Frank, my Guide Dog, back in the late 80's.

In 2019, along with my then Guide Dog Gatsby, I visited St Molaga’s National School in Balbriggan for my 25th consecutive year. The children I met 25 years ago are now the supporters of our Branch, and these types of school visits are crucial to our success. The school is just one of many we visit.

About 1995 we changed our Branch name to Balbriggan\North Co. Dublin as no one was raising money in Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Oldtown or Garristown. We also now fundraise in Duleek, Stamullen and Ardcath, Co. Meath all thanks to the late Francis Wall of Duleek, who met Fred, another Guide Dog and brother of my Frank, when Fred went to live in Duleek in 1985 with his late owner Gerry Healy.

When Irish Guide Dogs allowed puppy raisers in North County Dublin for the first time, we were very lucky to find these wonderful people by word of mouth. This core of puppy raisers, past and present, is a significant part of our Branch, including our current Co-Chair and Puppy Raiser, Anne Mulligan.

There are retired Guide Dogs in the area as well, but the key to the success of the Branch is seeing Guide Dogs or Assistance Dogs out and about doing their job, showing everyone the better quality of life those lucky enough to get one of these dogs have in comparison to what they had before the dog. That is what makes the Branch successful, seeing people independent, safe and contented.

In my years as a Guide Dog owner, I have had in this order Frank, Bruce, Kola, Nemo, Sarge, Gatsby and now Qeb, my late wife's dog who it turned out was a perfect match for me. Breege also had Gypsie, Abbey and Unice.

Life continues to change, and people do different things, but we still fundraise, and we do many local school talks. Covid times were very tough years for everyone and our fundraising was well down but we are right back bringing in around €40,000 each year.

We are still a very active Branch and as determined as ever to keep up our work.

Group photo above is the Garristown Poker Classic in 2008 (left to right): Barbara Reid (owner of Garristown House), Ann Beggs, Phyllis Mangan, Tom O'Neill, Dick Cashen, and Guide Dog Sarge in front.