Parents want CRC board to explain their actions
The call was made by families directly affected by the scandal in highly emotional scenes yesterday.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, journalist Tom Clonan — whose 11-year-old son Eoin receives CRC support due to a “serious neuro-muscular disease” — said he was appalled by the revelations.
Mr Clonan said cutbacks mean his son “spent the best part of a year in a wheelchair that was too small for him”, a situation only resolved in recent weeks, resulting in his muscles contracting, his legs “beginning to curl back in on themselves and his feet beginning to twist in”.
While stressing the need for the public to keep supporting frontline services, and the dedication of staff, he hit out at the fact the problem was taking place at the same time as hundreds of thousands of euro in charitable donations were being re-routed.
“We did not choose to be in this space, but everybody on that board chose to be there and this is how they behave when they interact with families like us?
“I would challenge them to come and explain to my little boy why he has to wait for ankle foot orthoses [supports]; why he has to wait for physical therapy; why the amount of physical therapy he gets has been reduced. Those people in receipt of this money, they should give it back,” he said.
The comment echoed a similar stance taken by Maria Nolan, whose 17-month-old son Oisin is also receiving CRC help.
Breaking down in tears during a powerful interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said coming to the CRC felt like joining a “family” — a situation worlds apart from the financial fiasco: “You just feel disgusted and saddened, not just for yourself and your child, but for the staff who are so amazing. They are such amazing people and they’re so talented and gifted to work with children and adults like Oisin. And you just feel they’re so ashamed, thinking we’re judging them.
“I know money is scarce and people don’t really have a lot to give, but please don’t pass the buck on the street. Oisin will be like this for the rest of his life, he will always need the CRC. I beg of you, don’t pass it,” she pleaded.
Numerous other families contacted the Special Needs Parents Association in recent weeks to say they did not want to put all of their details forward but were keen to express their anger.
Alecia, from Co Dublin, said the ex-board had “forgotten the patients are why they are there at all”.
“My son’s diagnoses and my world being turned upside down has in some twisted turn of fate become the board’s retirement fund. I feel used. We never wanted to be the underdog.”
Another parent, Lorraine from Waterford, added: “To see young children receiving basic services or none at all, to see children falling out of wheelchairs that are way too small for them or years old, to hear day after day, week after week parents fighting for therapy or equipment for their children all because of ‘lack of funding’... It is disgusting.
“People must remember this is a handful of people at the very top that need to be dealt with. The staff on the ground, are doing amazing work with limited budgets.”
