'Cork is the worst county for children with Down syndrome'

Families forced to fundraise for vital therapies as a recent reconfiguration of services into Children’s Disability Network Teams has made things 'a lot worse' 

Joanne Hegarty and her daughter Olivia, at the Down's Syndrome Centre Cork, Forge House, Forge Hill, Cork. Pictures: Eddie O'Hare

A Cork-based Down syndrome support centre is appealing to the public to support its latest fundraiser, as a growing numbers of families are coming to the centre “desperately looking for services that they can’t get” from the HSE.

Joanne Hegarty’s daughter Olivia is aged seven, and when she was born, she was the first person Joanne had ever met with Down syndrome.