'Your guilt as a parent is huge, relentless, that you’re not giving them what they need'

Fionn McCarthy's mother is the voice for a 'super' but non-verbal six-year-old boy

Emma McCarthy with her son Fionn. Picture: Larry Cummins

On Saturdays, Fionn McCarthy joins his local all-abilities soccer team, running around the pitch to the sound of cheers from his family.

Seeing her son, who has Down syndrome and a severe intellectual disability, on a football pitch with other children, adapting and “taking it all in”, was a revelation to Emma McCarthy.