A house for Temple Street

Sherry FitzGerald Group launched "Your Home Away From Home" in 2006 to assist Temple Street Children's Hospital in purchasing a house for use as parent's accommodation. 5 Fontenoy Street, Dublin 7, was subsequently purchased and completely refurbished.

The house was officially opened in 2008 and now for the first time in Temple Street´s history, families from all over Ireland with children attending the hospital, often with very serious illnesses, have somewhere to stay.

Sherry FitzGerald fundraises every year to pay the mortgage on the property, through events like a 10km Family Walkathon.

"This project was formed in response to the critical need to provide family accommodation for parents throughout Ireland who need to be close to their sick child while they are attending Temple Street. The house on Fontenoy Street will comfortably accommodate two families, which of course is not enough for all the families who are affected, but it is a start. I'm very proud when I see that the great efforts of our staff, and our clients to raise funds for this project over the past two years have paid off."
Mark FitzGerald, CEO, Sherry FitzGerald Group

Making a difference

Tom Folan's daughter, five year old Caoimhe has been attending Temple Street since September 2007 on an almost constant basis, making the 470km round trip with her parents from Galway for treatment. Caoimhe recently underwent neurosurgery at the hospital and is recovering well. Travelling long distances makes everyday life difficult for the family, taking it in turns to give each other a break, there are times however when it is necessary for both parents to be with her.

"The first time we used the house Caoimhe was not well enough to go home, but could stay with us at Fontenoy Street because it was so close to the hospital. She was awaiting major surgery and her stay in the house made a huge difference to her, she was more relaxed and the break from hospital to a more normal environment helped her. For us as parents it gave us a chance to be a proper family and after her operation she was able to stay with us, going in on a daily basis for her treatment. We felt this helped greatly with her recovery, not having to stay in hospital."