Council denies doing nothing in the case of little Chloe (2)

By Denise McNamara

Galway City Council has refuted claims it is doing nothing to provide suitable accommodation for the family of a severely disabled child.

A spokesman for the council said while it is its policy not to comment on individual cases, it has now been forced to publicly address allegations made by the Flaherty family that it is refusing to transfer them from their local authority house in Ballybane to a more appropriate bungalow on the west side of the city.

Chloe, now 2, was born with craniosynostosis, which caused her brain to fuse with her skull. An operation at 18 months left her permanently brain damaged and blind. She can only move her arms and legs and is unable to support her head. She requires round-the-clock care and is being cared for at University Hospital Galway at a cost of €1,000 a day.

Her parents, Patrick Flaherty (29) and Samantha Harte (26), who also have a seven-year-old son Patrick, are unable to care for Chloe overnight because they are worried the house is too far away from the hospital and it is too cramped for her needs, as she is confined to a wheelchair and sleeps on a special cot.

They also want to be beside the Burren View Child Development Centre in Knocknacarra run by the Brothers of Charity, where they have secured a place for Chloe next September.

While they care for Chloe at home during the day, they leave her at UHG at night, where she has remained for the past 11 months unnecessarily because of their unsuitable accommodation, according to her father Patrick.

They nearly lost her after it took an ambulance 35 minutes to reach them following one of her seizures. She is also in danger of chest infections because of the draught from the chimney in the sitting room where she must sleep with one of her parents by her special cot on a mattress on the floor.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.