Fergus Finlay: Pandemic took away the voices of people with intellectual disability

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris at Lakers social and recreation club in Co Wicklow in 2019. It's a club for people with intellectual disability.

IT’S a funny feeling. We reckon there are a lot of amends to be made: Amends for lost time; amends for loneliness; amends for friendships that were really hard to sustain; amends for all the effort that went into keeping people safe, sometimes at the cost of their happiness and sense of fun.

However, at the same time there’s a great buzz in the air. We can’t wait to get the doors open again, to see people we haven’t seen for months. There’s a new programme going out next week, with 50 classes for members to join as they wish. I’m betting most of them will be booked up within days.