Rainbow Club needs its own premises, Minister says

DISABILITIES Minister Ann Rabbitte has said that she needs Cork’s Rainbow Club to have a fit-for-purpose premises for autistic children.

Ms Rabbitte was speaking to The Echo after she confirmed in the Dáil that a Mahon premises, which was previously owned by the HSE, will this week be signed over to Cork City Council.

Once the premises is handed over, the local authority is expected to seek expressions of interest in the building from community and charity groups.

The Rainbow Club, which provides a lifeline to families living with autism, was founded by Karen and Jon O’Mahony, whose sons, Sean and Stephen, are autistic.

In October 2022, the then taoiseach Micheál Martin told a fundraising ball for the Rainbow Club that he was hopeful that the HSE property could be transferred to the council within weeks, and he expressed the hope that it might be made available to the club.

The transfer looks set to be completed this week, and while Ms Rabbitte said she was hopeful that the Rainbow Club would soon have a premises, she did not link the charity to the former HSE site.

She said that the Cork charity was providing vital services and pledged to support it.

“I need the Rainbow Club. It is delivering 1,200 interventions a week, in its current environment. I need the Rainbow in a permanent, fit-for-purpose premises,” Ms Rabbitte said.

She added that she had been “begging” for the former HSE premises to be transferred to the city council.

“While it has been a long, slow, tedious, drawn-out process, it is now great to think that this Friday the city council will be in possession of a building that they can make available for a community-led initiative of need in the Mahon area.”

Cork Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan said he was hopeful that, pending a public consultation by the council, “someone like the Rainbow Club” would be the beneficiary.

Ms Rabbitte indicated to Mr O’Sullivan that if the Rainbow Club was successful in its application, she would make capital funding available for the refit of the premises.