Leading disability campaigner and Tralee woman, Jacqui Browne will remembered as a powerful advocate who was generous in sharing her own lived experience.
Jacqui was a thalidomide survivor from Tralee who led campaigns to calling for a state apology and statutory redress.
Thalidomide was introduced in the mid-1950s to treat morning sickness but was withdrawn from most countries in 1961 after widespread evidence of it causing birth defects.
Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Norma Foley praised the legacy that Jacqui Browne is leaving behind, stating that her advocacy work has inspired her Department to do more and do better.
She credited Jacqui's lived experience as monumental in highlighting and advocating issues, and that there was genuine sadness in the Department of Disability on hearing of her passing:
