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An enterprising dad has set up sock company for his son with Down Syndrome to give him a sense of purpose, pride and independence.

And Thomas Barry is delighted with the new business, which is donating 5% of profits to St John of God’s -who have cared for him for 30 years.

The 33 year-old, who was the youngest person in Ireland to have a total hip replacement, also suffers with Perthes disease and a heart murmur.

Dad Finbar told the Irish Mirror today: “Since he reached the age of about 14 he’s always been telling me, ‘Make me a lunch, I’m going to work’.

“At the time there was never any possibility of him getting a job due to his physical and mental disabilities.

“I’ve been looking over the years for something he could manage and could be manageable for him.

Finbar said Thomas has always loved playing with socks and “he would put one sock into the other and swings them round his fingers for hours”.

And that sowed the seed for the retiree, who worked as an inspector in the waste management section of Dublin City Council, to start the new company.

He added: “You see even in the centre where he goes at St John of God’s they can get him to do little bits of gardening and little jobs.

“Some of them get jobs in shops but he could never undertake anything like that because he wasn’t well enough to do it.

“But this was the thing for him and with the help of some family members he could manage this.

“It’s something he could cope with.

“[It gives] him independence and a sense of pride that he can actually have a job.”

Finbar, from Ellensborough, Tallaght in Dublin, said the online business for Thomas’s trendy socks went live last week and mum Maureen is also very supportive.

The dad of seven, who said his grandson helps out with the technical aspect, added: “The name of his company is called Thomp2, because when Thomas signs his name it looks like Thomp2 which is something he can identify with as you can see in the logo.”

A launch party in the Hampton Hotel in Dublin at 2pm on Sunday May 12.