BY DIONNE MEEHAN
A DONEGAL beach is set to be the first in Ireland to have an all-terrain outdoor powered wheelchair which is free to use.
The Magic Mobility X8 wheelchair is not your standard outdoor wheelchair, through sand or snow and up or down kerbs, the Extreme X8 can do it all with ease.
Unrivalled off-road performance and reliability make it a perfect outdoor wheelchair for adventurers and explorers.
With the chair ranging from €15,000 to €22,000, Portnoo man, Paul Dawson and his wife Julie had quite the fundraising task ahead of them.
Paul, who has been living in Narin for the past four years, suffers from MS and has been using a wheelchair for 12 years.
After watching many wheelchair users viewing the beach from the car park, Paul and Julie made it their mission to find a way for them to enjoy the beach.
After extensive research, Paul stumbled across the Extreme X8, which he describes as being the best of the best.
Getting massive support from the local community, local businesses and local organisations such as Ardara GAA and Portnoo Swimmers, it took just one year of fundraising efforts to raise enough money.
Raising a total of €18,000, Paul told the Donegal News they had enough to purchase the chair and a shed to store it.
“Irish Sheds Direct in Dublin donated wheelchair ramps and shelving for the shed.
“We also had an anonymous donation of a mobile hoist which is incredible,” he said.
Now anyone that comes to Narin Beach in a wheelchair can be transferred easily into the power chair.
With bookings already flooding in, Paul said people can’t wait to experience the beach, just because they can.
With the beach already having a three wheeled wheelchair called a Hippocampe and being the first in Ireland to have a changing places toilet (a toilet with a hoist), the new powered wheelchair is a great addition to the highly wheelchair accessible beach.
If you are interested in using the beach wheelchair you can do so by contacting one of the phone numbers on the shed when you reach Narin Beach.
Someone will then help you and demonstrate how to use it.
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