Celebrating Frances Daly: A Champion for Inclusion

​St. Joseph’s Special School is proud to celebrate Frances Daly, a dedicated volunteer and coach, who has been honoured with the Federation of Irish Sport’s 2024 Volunteers in Sport Award for County Galway. This well-deserved recognition highlights her long-standing commitment to Special Olympics Ireland and her valuable contributions to our school community since 1992.

Every week, Frances can be found at Leisureland, where she coaches the Special Olympics team from St Joseph’s and supports Transition Year students from Coláiste Iognáid (The Jes). Through her guidance, these students improve their swimming skills while also getting involved in our community outreach efforts.

Frances has also played a key role in Special Olympics swimming events, served as Swimming Head Coach for Connacht from 2006 to 2018, and was Assistant Coach for Team Ireland at the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games.

To mark this achievement, our school community gathered for a special celebration, where students presented Frances with handmade cards and gave her a big round of applause at Leisureland. It was a chance for everyone to show their appreciation for her dedication and hard work.

On behalf of all of us at St. Joseph’s, congratulations, Frances. Your passion and commitment continue to inspire us all.