A play centre used by children who are seriously ill has been vandalised during a robbery in Limerick city.
It's alleged the front door of the Dreamland centre on the Dublin Road was smashed in at around 8.30am on Tuesday morning.
The thieves stole a till, a donation box, and fundraising money, and also vandalised the building.
It's been described as "stealing from the kids' dreams".
The Share a Dream Foundation runs the centre and founder of the charity, Shay Kinsella, explains what he found when he arrived there on Tuesday.
"The whole frame door, everything in the front of the building, was all smashed in.
"Inside, we have a massive bowl and we ask people if you want to share the dream, if you want to be part of it, if you want to give us your donation, we'd really appreciate it.
"They actually pulled that off the wall. I don't know how they got it down.
"We have a cash register, they tore that off the wall. Luckily, there wasn't a lot of money in it but they took the whole thing.
"We had just done some fundraising two days beforehand, they took all that.
"They were very, very professional; gloves, masks, the whole lot. They were in and out in something like three or four minutes."
Mr Kinsella says it's hurtful for everyone involved, especially the children.
We're heartbroken because what they did actually was stole from the kids' dreams.
"It's heartbreaking because you're looking up at the wall at 70 photographs of all these kids, many of them have passed away, and you're thinking, jeez, I'm nearly crying now looking at them.
"People don't realise what families are going through.
"I'm just sick. There's no point saying they're scurrilous, it just worries me what's gone wrong with the country or what's wrong with people."
A fundraiser has been set up to try to fix the damage caused.
You can donate via the centre's Go Fund Me page here.
