FUNDING OF €3.6 million was yesterday awarded by a charitable organisation to 50 projects helping people with disabilities and mental health issues to live within their communities.
The projects support people “not in institutions but in communities where they belong”, Pat McLoughlin, chairman of Genio Trust said yesterday. “We need to spread this so that more people can live amongst family and friends in the society,” he said.
The grants combine €3 million funding from the Government with the rest from Chuck Feeney’s Atlantic Philanthropies.
Among those being supported by grants from the trust are people moving to independent living from institutional care or from living with elderly parents or from nursing home care.
One of the recipients is Tanya Byrne (35), who has recently moved into her own apartment in Ballyboden, Dublin, from the Good Counsel home for people with mental health difficulties.
“I have freedom to come and go, and to have my own place I always wished for,” she said. She is supported by staff to help her with issues such as bills and budgeting.
Madeline Clarke, executive director of Genio Trust, said having people living within the community was the best option. “The notion that it is more expensive to have people in the community is not the case at all,”she said.
“Years ago people felt it was cheaper if people were put together and put away. But institutions are expensive, generally not safe and not where we want to be,” she said. She would like to see many more people involved in similar projects.
“Nobody is unsuitable. No matter what level of need they have, there was no need to shut them away from their community,” she said.
