Jack & Jill making a difference

LITTLE Jack Irwin’s short life inspired a new charity that is giving vital help to 220 families of children and babies with severe developmental delay.

Because no official State help was available until a baby was four years old, Jack’s parents, Jonathan and Mary-Ann, set up the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation to provide home respite care.

Six years on, it employs six full-time paediatric nurses and has a €317,000 Government grant assisting its €1.6 million yearly outgoings.