Enda Kenny backpedals on disability cuts in austerity budget

Joanne O'Riordan inspires Irish government to do a u-turn

Thankfully my family has an income and we can pay for things, but there are loads of people who desperately need the disability allowance.

“I hope things change for them because not everyone can come forward and speak their mind.”

Her father taught her when she was a baby to roll. Since then, although confined to a high chair and a special wheelchair, she has learned to write, feed, text friends on her cellphone and study on her laptop with her mouth.

Joanne sits her Leaving Certificate examination in 2014 and then plans to be a journalist or broadcaster. She also has plans to move to Dublin or New York.

She recalled the meeting at her school with Kenny before he won the election in February.

She said, “I was going to meet him and that was it. My teacher let me go to see him, so I got my way in the end. I normally do.

“I was a bit nervous but I made myself known to him, and that’s when I asked him would he cut my allowance if he got into power, which he said he wouldn’t do.

“I bet he regrets meeting me ever since but I still love him and I know he’ll do that right thing. I want to make it clear that I don’t have a problem with Enda. I have a problem with the decisions the government made.”

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Nster.com