Ability West has received €1,091,937 from the Dormant Accounts Fund for its new respite facility. The funding, which is being matched by the organisation, will go towards building a new respite facility for intellectually disabled adults on the Grattan Road.

The funding was announced by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon O Cu?v at Ability West's annual fundraising ball, held last Friday night.

According to Breda Crehan-Roche, CEO of Ability West, the funding will be hugely beneficial towards providing services for intellectually disabled people and their families in the Galway area. "Staff will be redeployed from other sites, so it will be very cost-efficient, user-friendly, and we've also taken on board all the green, environmental considerations. So it'll be state of the art."

Ability West (formerly The Galway Association) helps people with intellectual disability to achieve their full potential by providing day, residential and respite services at 49 locations in Galway. The grant announced last week will contribute towards a purpose-built centre in Galway city that will benefit 120 families and customers, and two apartment facilities that will be used on a flexible basis depending on local need. This innovation will provide additional space to undertake independent living skills programmes and normalisation programmes. It will provide crisis respite bed spaces, room for intensive work to be undertaken with those with severely challenging behavioural problems, or space for families to stay overnight with children/dependents if necessary. The staffing and operational costs will continue to be covered by the HSE. Overall, the project will cost over €2.2 million.

This measure under the Dormant Accounts Fund provides support for innovative projects to address disadvantage that leverage matching funding from private, philanthropic or community sources. So far, 14 projects have been approved for Dormant Accounts grants totally approximately €15 million. These projects have secured over €35 million in private, philanthropic or community funding.

According to Minister Eamon Ó Cuív, the Government will continue to ensure that Dormant Accounts funding will be used to help those most in need in our society. "This project in particular is an excellent example of the potential of public-private partnership. Ability West came up with an innovative plan; they raised their share of the money needed for the project and did their best to make sure that it got off the ground. I have absolute confidence that with their commitment and determination, this project will be a great success."

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