Who Are We?

A group of parents of children and adults with intellectual disability in the Bandon and Kinsale area of West Cork.

Our Aims:

• We feel it is important that people with intellectual disabilities are integrated and included in community activities. We wish to promote this inclusion. So far we have opened an after-school Fun club for 21 junior and senior children.
  
  
• We aim to open a forum of communication for parents and persons with intellectual disabilities to interact and support each other.
  
  
• We aim to campaign for better services in our area.
  
  
• To act as a source of information on local activities for those with intellectual disabilities.

How We Started:

BASC stands for Bandon Area Special Children, and our organisation was set up in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s with the aim of helping parents of children with intellectual disability in Bandon and Kinsale areas.

At that time, those children had to travel to Cork to school necessitating travelling on a bus for long hours or staying in residential care only coming home at weekends.

We set up a class in Presentation Primary School, Bandon, for junior children 1989 and. As the need grew, a second class was set up for more senior children.
In 1999 a third class was set up to accommodate children on the Autism Spectrum. Originally this had 3 children but it later decreased to 2. A class for second level education, Rang Naomh Iosaif, was set up in St. Brogan’s Vocational School.

It was always a major aim of BASC to establish a Day Care Centre/Hostel/ Workshop in Bandon. Even though a site was acquired, problems with planning have meant that the facility has not been built. 

In December 2000 BASC located and paid for a building in Distillery Road, Bandon to provide interventions for all children in the range 0 -18 years in the Bandon and Kinsale area. This was opened by Minister Micheál Martin and is under the auspices of the Brothers of Charity. This facility is now located in Mill Court, Bandon, and it provides pre-school facilities and interventions such as speech therapies and psychological assessments. 

The employment of a Home Support/Youth Worker has resulted in the setting up of Fun Clubs for junior and senior level and their annual summer camp which is enjoyed by all.

Who’s Involved:

The numbers attending BASC meetings has always changed and the organisation has adapted to those changes.

Membership is not necessarily only parents, in the past teachers and other individuals in the community have been members as well. Presently it consists of a group of parents.

Parents usually join when they receive a diagnosis as they struggle to understand their situation and look for schools and therapies. Parents with similar diagnoses can be put in touch with each other and one usually finds a helpful person. Throughout, support and information are our main aims.


We Interact With:

 • Parents
 • Schools
 • Brothers of Charity
 • Department of Education
 • Department of Health
 • Special Olympics Ireland

Our Funding:

Our original funding came from raffles, supper dances and other events organised by the members of BASC.

We have always been proactive in sourcing funds, for example, in 2008 the organisation was awarded a Better Ireland Award by AIB which brought in €10,000 in new funding. 

Private donations have also been received and are always appreciated.

Organisation:

The organisation is a limited company entitled BASC Enterprises. Everybody who joins is a member of the committee and the present directors are:

Chairperson : Ann O’Dowd
Secretary : Eileen Murphy
Treasurer : Mary O’Dwyer