St Christopher's service users pay visit to Dáil

Service users of St Christopher's assembled in the car park of the Battery Road facility this morning as they prepared for a visit to the seat of Irish government. The day trip to the Kildare Street parliament was arranged by local Fianna Fáil Cllr Uruemu Adejinm

St Christopher's provides services to Adults and Children with Intellectual Disabilities in County Longford including day, residential an respite care.

Staff and service users from St Christopher's prepare for the trip to Dublin: Lorraine Farrar, Safia Hamal, Carmel Farrell, John Kyle, Aidan Coughland, Aoife Paland, Kevin Hegarty, Miriam Delaney, Fiona McLoughlin, Fiona Devine, Christian Dann, Annmarie Courtney

Cllr Adejinm explained how the Dáil visit came about: “A couple of month sago I was invited to meet with staff and service users of the ACE Unit in St Christopher's. We had a questions and answers session. In my role as councillor I asked if there was any issues I could highlight.

“A number of issues were raised, but a few people expressed a desire to visit Leinster House and meet the then Taoiseach Michael Martin. I contacted Deputy Joe Flaherty and he was delighted to make the arrangements. Today is the day and everyone is very excited about the trip.”

Lorraine Farrar supervisor in St Christopher's said there was great excitement about the trip: “It's a great day and we have been looking forward to it for a while. Uruemu met with the service users in the ACE unit (Achievement, Choice and Evolution) and she told them about her work as a councillor. In the course of that meeting they mentioned wanting to visit the Dáil. We have to thank Uruemu and Deputy Flaherty for making the arrangements.”