The family of a teenage boy, who has severe disabilities, including very limited mobility, has been left furious over the experience they encountered when they arrived at Fitzgerald Stadium for Sunday’s Munster Football Final.
The O’Leary family, from Milleen, Kilcummin, approached the barriers at a designated disability car park in Dalton’s Avenue over two hours before the 1.45pm throw-in time.
But they were denied access when they presented their blue disability badge at the barriers, as Gardai they encountered on Lewis Road had advised them to.
They said a steward informed them that an instruction had been received from the Munster Council of the GAA that the car park was to be reserved for Munster Council issued permits only and that those seeking disability parking spaces should be sent instead to Deerpark Pitch and Putt Club on Lewis Road.
This is in spite of the fact that the Dalton’s Avenue car park was clearly marked for disability access.
For all other games not under the control of the Munster Council, the Dalton’s Avenue car park has always been the go-to zone for those in possession of blue badge parking permits but, it is understood, the Fitzgerald Stadium committee received a directive on Sunday morning to restrict the area for Munster Council officials and approved permit holders only.
Micheál O’Leary, whose 14-year–old son, Cillian, suffers from a severely debilitating condition called Hau Fountain Syndrome, told the stewards that his child uses a walker and could not manage the distance from the pitch and putt club to the stadium elevator which is located just inside the Dalton’s Avenue entrance.
“The car park outside the stadium was three quarters empty at that stage. You could fit about 200 cars in there so why were they stopping people with disability permit? Surely all they would have to deal with on the day would be 10 or 15 blue badge drivers?” said Micheál who stressed that he wasn’t aware of any Munster Council restriction.
He said he had emailed the Kerry GAA authorities days in advance of the match to ask if he needed to do anything specific in terms of parking but he received no reply. and he believes. whenever possible, those with mobility issues and blue badges should be accommodated as close as possible to the venue.
Micheál, who contacted KillarneyToday to highlight the experience he endured, said he argued the point with stewards for some time but, he said, a security officer was then summoned and told him the family could not park there.
“Luckily a local resident saw what was going on and told me we could park in their driveway for which we were very grateful. There is just no way Cillian could have walked from the pitch and putt course to the elevator which he needed to get to his seat,” Micheál said.
“I was very angry and annoyed and Cillian got very anxious. It ruined our day completely and I could hardly concentrate on the match,” he said.
Micheál acknowledged that once they got inside the stadium everything ran smoothly and they encountered very helpful local stewards who gave them every assistance they needed but the car park experience was dreadful.
He stressed that he had no difficulty whatsoever with the Fitzgerald Stadium stewards who are always helpful but he has serious issues with the policy of the Munster Council.
“For them to insist on designating that car park, in part, for their own officials is so out of touch with what is going on in our world today in terms of inclusivity and looking after those with disabilities. It’s an absolute disgrace,” the Kilcummin man said.
“The car park at Dalton’s Avenue has always been used as a disabled parking zone and we have always gone there. We need assurances from the Munster Council that it won’t happen again,” Micheál added.
KillarneyToday put the O’Leary family’s concerns to the Munster Council and the following statement was received:
“The long-standing policy for Munster Senior Championship matches is that wheelchair tickets (which come with a car pass) are allocated to the participating county boards for each match (Kerry and Clare in the case of Sunday) for distribution within the respective counties. There has been no change to this policy for Munster Senior Championship matches in the last 10+ years.
“The allocation of wheelchair tickets and car passes to the participating counties, as outlined above, matches the available disabled spaces in each stadium. I can confirm that all those who received wheelchair tickets for the Munster Final were also given a car pass to Dalton’s Avenue car park.
“In the interest of health and safety, the number of spaces in Dalton’s Avenue car park are limited to aid with crowd control.
“Finally, with regards to the Gardai, they were represented at the pre-event meeting along with other stakeholders”.
In a follow-up statement, the Munster Council said how blue badge permit holders are handled at non-Munster GAA games, such as national league or club games, is a matter for Kerry GAA as it pertains to Fitzgerald Stadium.
“Munster GAA policy in this regard has been unchanged for 10+ years, as mentioned. While not every person who requires a disabled car pass would necessarily be in a wheelchair, the process to get disabled car passes is linked with the wheelchair areas within each stadium,” the statement read.
The provincial council added that to state that the blue badge permit always previously allowed holders access to the Dalton’s Avenue car park was incorrect in terms of Munster senior championship games.
“Given the size of Dalton’s Avenue car park, it would not be practical on Munster championship days to allow everyone with a blue badge permit to park in that car park, as it would invariably fill up, leaving those who had applied for wheelchair passes and accompanying car passes through the correct process no place to park,” the council added.
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