Green Kitchen Employees

Stephen Lyons (31) works as a kitchen porter at the Green Kitchen café.

“It’s important for people to know that people with disabilities can work. We all have the right to be part of the world of work,”

says Lyons.

He lives with his parents in Kilmainham and pays them rent because it would be too costly for him to live on his own. He says he enjoys both his jobs.

“The challenge for me is to get to know people,”

he explains.

Gillian Farrell (34) has been working in the Green Kitchen cafe for about seven years.

“I like it here. I’m okay when I’m doing one thing at a time. If I’m doing too many things together, I need to slow down. I tell people that I have autism and that it will take me a bit of time to do things but I’ll get them done,”

she explains.

Anna Brennan (31) also worked as floor staff in the Green Kitchen for eight years after it opened, until she was supported to progress into employment in the open labour market. She said 

“I’m become more independent, and I felt included and relaxed. People can be themselves in the Green Kitchen Cafe and I felt comfortable with that. 

Brennan who used to get two buses from her home in Co Meath to come to work in the Green Kitchen Café then wanted to find something closer to home and with the support of the WALK Careers & Employment team found a new job in Dublin 1 that only needed one bus from home. Now in the new job for more than a year, she is well settled and thriving but misses the staff and customer in Walkinstown.

[Written by Sylvia Thompson, Irish Times, Photos by Dara Mac Dónaill]