Ms Rita Walsh:

On behalf of Down Syndrome Ireland, and in particular the Kildare branch, we thank the Joint Committee on Disability Matters for inviting us to speak here today. My name is Rita Walsh, chairperson of the branch and I am joined by Gráinne Gorey, our secretary and Dr. Fidelma Brady, head of education with Down Syndrome Ireland.

The Kildare branch was founded 1985 by a group of courageous and forward-thinking parents. We now support 235 members and their families across Kildare and west Wicklow. We are a voluntary organisation under the umbrella of Down Syndrome Ireland. Our funding sources are fundraising, donations from families, course contributions from members and grant applications. The supports the branch provides are Parent Link, early development groups, speech and language therapy for all age groups, information workshops and social activities. The Kildare branch first introduced our adult education programme in 2012 when Down Syndrome Ireland introduced the literacy and technology hands-on, LATCH-on, adult literacy programme to Ireland. This programme was introduced as a direct response for families who wished to have their adult person with Down's syndrome engaged in a meaningful educational experience after formal schooling. Families felt that there was a huge void in this area for our adults over 18. The Kildare branch has run adult literacy programmes for the past ten years which have been very well attended.

In 2018 the branch decided to expand its adult education opportunities by introducing a horticulture project to acknowledge the different interests and strengths among our students. After much work the branch was able to launch our new horticulture programme, An Garraí Beag, in Sallins in September 2019. The programme was developed to provide an opportunity for our adult members to develop skills and to have meaningful engagement in training and practice in horticulture, and so that our members would have opportunities to use those skills to make a real contribution in their local communities and to engage in some small opportunities of social enterprise. Pre-Covid-19 we had 20 students attending over two days each week in Sallins. At present we have 12 students attending in Sallins over two days and six students in our second site in Donadea. We added the Donadea site to our programmes this year in September 2021 due to the demand for horticulture. Our site in Sallins, because of its central location, offers our students many opportunities, including independent travel. Many of our students travel by bus or train from Newbridge, Naas, Maynooth, Clane and Newcastle. Our students also enjoy access to the local community to sell their produce, as well as opportunities to make meaningful contributions in the community such as engaging with Tidy Towns, keeping flowerbeds around the church tidy, providing Christmas wreaths and being an active part of what goes on in Sallins village. The students have taken part in decorating for the St. Patrick's Day festivities and won a competition for the best Halloween display in 2021 with Kildare Community Stories.

As our site in Donadea is in a rural setting, it offers our students a different set of experiences. The site has room for small animals such as hens, ducks, rabbits and lambs which gives the students the chance to learn some animal husbandry. As the site is bigger than the Sallins site, it will allow us to also grow some fruit bushes, potatoes, pumpkins and things that need more space. The rural setting lends itself to nice walks and the group have engaged with Kildare County Council in adopting our green kilometre where the students pick litter in the area around our site. We also hope to engage with the nature around us, for example through the installation of bird and bat boxes with BirdWatch Ireland.

Much has been written about the benefits of people engaging in gardening and nature, and the Covid-19 pandemic has proven this to be true. In some countries horticulture is now being prescribed by doctors as a support for people who struggle with mental health or trauma. In recent times there has been intensive research done by Professor Mary McCarron and Dr. Eimear McGlinchey of Trinity College on the subject of Alzheimer's disease and dementia in adults with Down's syndrome. The overwhelming evidence is that people with Down's syndrome are extremely vulnerable to early onset dementia with onset being up to 20 years earlier than the average for the general population. Equally, it is thought that up to 40% of all dementia cases can be prevented or mitigated with the right lifestyle choices. The research suggests that the best preventative or mitigating action for our people, against the threat of early onset dementia, is to stay physically active, mentally challenged, socially included and emotionally connected. We feel strongly that these programmes create many opportunities for our people to meet those goals.