Dunmore creche staff hailed for their selfless kindness

Community cared for Lucas as one of their own

By Patrick Flaherty

A DUNMORE creche has been nominated for a prestigious award following their work helping a young boy and his family through a very difficult time in their lives.

The Childpaths Giving Back Campaign aims to shine a spotlight on the unsung champions of early childhood education.

They will select one childcare service each month between January and October before announcing an overall winner in December.

Dún Beag were the August winners, having gone above and beyond to help little Lucas Miquel Cabral Da Silva.

Lucas was just 14 months old when he first arrived in the doors of the creche back in May 2022. His parents Marisa and Joao, who hailed from Portugal and Brazil respectively, had moved to Ireland around six months earlier.

Sadly, Marisa soon became ill and by the time her scans were seen by doctors she was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer. This left both parents with very little time to care for their son.

“We were asked by TUSLA to take Lucas in, which was difficult as we were already oversubscribed, but this was a request we just couldn’t turn down,” explained Janette Glynn, the manager of the creche. “As his wife got worse, Joao spent night and day with her as she was dying, so we created a rota between the six of us here, meaning we could all equally share the burden of looking after Lucas every night in our own homes.”

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