It will not be a great surprise if in times to come Finwey Farm becomes one of the best-known places in Ireland for helping people in need. It lies in a green fold of hills on the Laois/Kilkenny border, just off the road which runs between Abbeyleix and Carlow, on the edge of Ireland's midlands.
It looks like an ordinary dairy farm with its well-kept buildings. What is going on there, however, is extraordinary.
Finwey, run by Margaret Fingleton and Kevin McWey, is Ireland's first animal-assisted-therapy farm for people with special needs, physical, emotional or psychological.
The service there is based on the principle that contact with animals and nature provides opportunities to rediscover, explore and clarify more resourceful ways of living in an environment of acceptance and trust.
It is a well established fact that people who keep pets and have contact with animals live longer and enjoy healthier lives than those who do not.
Around the world, people who suffer from depression swim with dolphins, and in a sense, Finwey is a kind of swimming-with-dolphins, midland style.
Margaret is a qualified childcare worker who has worked in both residential and community care with a number of health boards and voluntary organisations, including the ISPCC and regional youth services.
"I always wanted to try something like this because, coming from a farm myself, I knew how beneficial contact with animals can be, and I decided with Kevin to give it a go," she said.
That was after she and Kevin went to New York state to the farm where most research on the subject has been carried out - Green Chimneys.
"I was working for the Eastern Health Board and travelling a lot and I wanted to be with my children, Laura and Roisin, who are still very small," she said.
Kevin, a qualified farmer who had spent some time working on a scholarship in New Zealand, agreed they should do something which involved them both. Last year they approached the local enterprise board and the Laois LEADER board for help in setting up their business. Market research showed a demand for the service, and the LEADER grant helped them to set up a purpose-built farmhouse and farmyard. "We opened last May and we have had a lot of groups, mainly children, through here. It has been very beneficial, especially to children in care and for handicapped children," Margaret said.
"The adults and children who come can touch and feel the animals. It's not like a zoo farm. We encourage the children to feed the animals and touch them." The service has been used by a number of health boards and by residential and other centres around the State which come to Finwey.
"We do things like milking the cows and bringing in the milk and turning it into ice-cream or cheese, so the people taking the courses can see the end-product of the work," said Margaret.
"On other occasions, we might take the eggs and use them for food, which we will cook in the centre. "Sometimes, youngsters will go off with Kevin to milk - kids who have no male figure in their lives - and they can relate to him very much," she said.
"We have noticed one thing since we began taking groups. The Down's syndrome children just love our chickens. They sit there fascinated, talking to them and telling them stories." She said it was particularly interesting that groups of young people who had been barred from other public places settled in very quickly at the farm.
"We also know that contact with animals is very good for children, or indeed adults, who have been abused. Children in particular seem to come out of their shells." There is certainly no shortage of animals on the 80-acre farm where the couple run a dairy and suckler-cow business. There are goats, rabbits, hens, calves, a donkey, horses and, of course, a large number of dogs and pups.
The couple foster dogs and pups until homes can be found for them, and one of their dogs, Morrissey, a gentle sheepdog, has even been loaned to a residential centre for young girls for a therapeutic holiday.
The AAT courses at the farm are normally run over a six-week period. In the mornings, the centre can cope with five people. On the afternoon courses the centre can handle a maximum of 10. It also runs evening courses which can cater for up to 20 people.
The couple are considering bringing animals to residential homes and to prisons. Research has shown that prisoners behave much better when they have contact with pets.
Finwey Farm can be contacted at Spink, Abbeyleix, Co Laois, Tel 0502-31958.