Taoiseach announces new home for Cork's Rainbow Club

Cork’s Rainbow Club looks set to secure a new, permanent home, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin announcing that good news is on the way.

The Taoiseach said that the conveyancing of a HSE-owned site to Cork City Council is currently underway and should be completed by the end of the month, pending due process.

Mr Martin was speaking on Saturday evening in the Carrigaline Court Hotel, at the Rainbow Club’s 10th anniversary gala masquerade ball.

The Rainbow Club, which provides a lifeline to families, children, young teens and adults living with Autism, was founded by Karen and John O’Mahony, whose sons Sean and Stephen have Autism.

The Rainbow Club has 62 volunteers, a staff of 28, and every week 1,000 families avail of its services.

The Taoiseach, who gave the keynote speech at the black-tie ball, thanked the O’Mahony family, and all of the Rainbow Club’s volunteers and staff, for making the club “such a wonderful experience for so many people”.

Mr Martin said the Rainbow Club has helped people who have Autism, and their families, to come together and learn from their shared experiences, something he said helped to lighten their load.

"The club really is making enormous progress and impact, and we know that we need a permanent location, and a permanent facility to grow even further,” he said, adding that some positive news is on the way.

The Taoiseach said the Rainbow Club offered a model from which the State could learn a lot, putting people at the heart of everything.

The importance for us, who make policy or try and develop policy, and the importance for systems, the importance for administrations, the importance for professionals, the number one rule always has to be to listen to the parents, to listen to the families, and listen to the children, and the teens, and that is at the core of getting the service right.

The Taoiseach praised Minister of State for Disabilities, Anne Rabbitte, who had not been able to attend the ball, saying she has been a champion for the Rainbow Club, making several visits to the club.

Cork North Central TD Pádraig O’Sullivan, who is Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson on special education, was in attendance and he came in for praise from the Taoiseach as “a thorn in my side in a positive way” for his advocacy on behalf of the Rainbow Club.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath said that all of the people who benefit from the Rainbow Club owe its founders Karen and John O’Mahony an enormous debt of gratitude.

Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the Rainbow Club is a very special place which owes its existence to “trailblazers” Karen and John O’Mahony.

Also speaking at the event were Cork county councillor Seamus McGrath, deputising for Cork county Mayor Danny Collins, and Cork city councillor Kenneth O’Flynn, deputising for Cork city Lord Mayor Deirdre Forde.

Karen O’Mahony, co-founder of the Rainbow Club, told The Echo she was delighted that so many policy makers were in attendance and were listening to the families who make up the Rainbow Club.

The support for a new home for the Rainbow Club, and the funding that will go with it, is really welcome news, we’re at the end of a road that we’ve been working on for a long time, and I can’t wait to see the next seven years, 20 years, 30 years.

Pádraig O’Sullivan TD told The Echo he welcomed the news that a new home for the club was in prospect.

“I’m delighted to hear that there is progress with the search for a new site, with Government working in conjunction with Cork City Council, and now that it looks like the Rainbow Club is finally going to have a permanent home, Government now needs to step up and ensure adequate funding is secured,” Mr O’Sullivan said.