Republican News · Thursday 5 December 2002

Focus on Attention Deficit Disorder

Among the speakers at the recent public awareness meeting on ADD and ADHD in West Cork were Kay McSweeney (parent/organiser), Garda Jim O'Mahony (West Cork Juvenile Liaison Officer), Cllr Fergal Keohane (Mayor of Bandon), Kathy Sinnott (Disability Rights Campaigner), Mags Lordan (Cork ADD Support Group), Jim O'Keeffe TD (Fine Gael) and Cllr Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin (Sinn Féin). (Photo: P Boyle, Bandon)

Clonakilty Sinn Féin Councillor Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin was one of several speakers who addressed a public awareness meeting in West Cork recently on Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), conditions that affect thousands of children and young adults across the country.

Over 80 people attended, many of them parents and teachers from throughout the West Cork area. The meeting was organised by Bandon woman Kay McSweeney, a parent of a 14-year-old boy with ADD. She felt this was the only way to highlight the inadequate health provisions for sufferers of the conditions.

Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin read a letter from Sinn Féin's Health and Children spokesperson, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD, calling for adequate resources to be allocated in the Budget.

Ó Súilleabháin said: "What hope have young children and teenagers who are afflicted with a condition such as ADD/ADHD, if they grow up undiagnosed or untreated? They grow up misunderstood, scorned by those who think they are just "bold" or "brazen" children, and unfortunately their condition often leads them into trouble, sometimes with the authorities. The Minister for Health and the Health Boards must allocate adequate resources to Children with ADD, and provide essential backup for their families, their teachers, and those with whom they interact."