Only One Direction for Joanne’s charity pop single

Joanne O’Riordan, the Cork schoolgirl who wowed the UN in New York last month, hopes boyband One Direction will sing a charity single based on her life.

The 16-year-old from Millstreet, Co Cork, was born with no limbs as a result of the rare condition, Total Amelia, and in April addressed the UN International Telecommunication Union conference, asking delegates to build her a robot.

Her story, which grabbed worldwide attention, has resulted in a song composed by Grammy-award winner Julie Gold, who wrote From A Distance, with which Bette Midler had a 1990 global hit.