Official opening della’s hub, Tuam, Co. Galway
PRESS RELEASE
LtoR Brid Leo and the late Della Burke Founders of the Galway Association for Mentally Handicapped Children
Della’s Hub - Day Service in Tuam
LtoR Claire McGinley, Bryan Gallagher and Julie Silke Daly at the Official Opening
Ursula Burke and Julie Silke Daly cutting the ribbon!
LtoR Caroline Kearney, Chloe O Connor, Ursula Burke, Bernie Donoghue, Julie Silke Daly, Colm Maloney
Della’s Day Centre was officially opened in Tuam with great excitement and joy on Friday, July 5th, The house ‘Della’s’ was originally owned by Della Burke. Della was well-known in Tuam, not least for her drive and determination to set up services in Galway for children and adults with an intellectually disabled. Della was the key founders of the Tuam Association for Mentally Handicapped Children, which humble starting was in 1962 when a group of parents came together to help set up services, then known as Galway association for mentally handicapped children. They goal of the association was to provide services such as education and training, day hubs for persons with a disability to support living ordinary lives in the community.
Tuam had a number of strong supporters of the association, Della together with Brid Leo, in 1963 they proactively supported the association by meeting with families all over Galway city and county. Their objective was to get those families with children with intellectual disabilities to become part of the Association so that they could apply for state funding and thereby increase services for families with children with disabilities. As they acquired more and more members, they also began fundraising by hosting coffee mornings and jumble sales to raise money for improved services. Goodwill amongst the people of Tuam became contagious with the first school funded to open in St Joseph’s Galway in 1964. There was no state funding for transport and a rota of voluntary drivers had to be set up. It was a momentous task with voluntary drivers setting up rotas. All kinds of transport were used such as Michael Quinn’s van in Tuam with little wooden seats in the back of the van. By 1966 some 70 people had become involved in the voluntary rota and many became involved in supporting the work of the association. Della was also involved in the first special house in Tuam for children with intellectual disability.
Sadly, Della passed away in 2020, but her legacy was not to stop there. Della bequeathed her property in Tuam to Ability West with the wish to further support the services for people with intellectual disability in the Tuam area. This very generous donation to Ability West has facilitated the creation of a day service hub in the heart of Tuam Community, a vison Della had which is now the government strategy to support intellectual disability. Della’s daughter Ursula Burke resides in Tuam operated by Ability West and has been supported by the organisation for many years. Ursula is the only surviving member of Della’s family.
Ursula assisted Julie Silke Daly, Chief Executive of Ability West to cut a ribbon at the official opening of Della’s. Julie said, “It’s such an honor to be here today officially opening Della’s Day Service. It is an occasion – Della Burke was a trailblazer, and she spearheaded the campaign for support and services for families with children with intellectual disabilities. We must never underestimate the work that was undertaken by people like Della Burke and the people of Tuam – and we must recognize that much of the governmental support we have today came about because of individuals like Della who never took no for an answer. Ability West were thrilled to receive this property and our finance team led by John McHugo secured the funding required for the ancillary services led by Peter Burke did a great job in adapting the property to make it suitable for persons with disabilities supported by Ability West. Donations such as this house make a huge difference to how Ability West can deliver services in the person’s own community and increase their presence in this case in the Tuam community. Currently five persons are supported the Hub which is due to increase with the arrival of school leavers from the local community. There are currently two permanent staff Caroline Kearney and Stacey Cullinane which is managed by Orla Cawley and Mary Foyle. The hope is that we can further extend support to persons with intellectual disability over time. Ability West has grown in the Tuam area with 5 residential homes and strong day support hubs. None of this would have been possible without the support of the Tuam branch in its early days and the staff team in Ability West, past and present, in the Tuam area, who are to be thanked today for their hard work, commitment and dedication to the people we support.
We are also delighted to have Della’s daughter Ursula here with us today, and her niece-in-law Susan and you must both be so very proud.”
Tuam resident Bernadette Donoghue remembers Della and said, “Della was a very strong-willed woman who always advocated to the best of her ability for her own daughter Ursula and for the ‘Children of Tuam’. She was a woman ahead of her time who had a vision of setting up a service in Tuam for people with ID and thankfully her vision became a reality.” Bernadette works in the St. Dominics service and has supported Ursula for more than 26 years.
The Team in Della’s service believe in creating opportunities by empowering the people supported with the necessary skills to access further education and gain meaningful employment. Four out of five of the people supported are accessing work placement in the local community in Tuam or are engaging in meaningful part-time employment. Providing opportunities for people to make their own choices while being supported by staff is key. Meaningful creativity and expression are strongly promoted. Having opportunities for personal and social development by creating an atmosphere that is inclusive, person-centered and fun are the main objectives of the team.
The team at Dellas are organizing a Reflection Service in the center to thank those involved past and present.