Taoiseach says he is dissatisfied with services for children with autism 

Cara Darmody from Ardfinnan Co Tipperary, and her father Mark leaving Leinster House after they addressed the Oireachtas committee on autism.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he is not satisfied with the services being provided to children with autism through the HSE.

Mr Martin made the comments during Leaders’ Questions when Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald mentioned the Darmody family who have been left in limbo with securing additional assessments and autism therapy for their son, Neil.

Ms McDonald said 18,000 children are on a waiting list to get initial contact with the children’s disability team and 2,500 of these children are overdue their assessments.

Recently Cara Darmody, 12, and her father Mark addressed the committee on autism in Leinster House in which Mr Carmody told of their struggles in getting support for his son, Neil.

Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, Ms McDonald said Mr Darmody had been told his son would be on a waiting list indefinitely and has been “stonewalled” by the HSE.

She said Mr Darmody has said the lack of intervention has caused “irreparable damage” to his son, who bites and punches himself all day.

More than a quarter of children's disability posts are vacant, equating to over 480,000 lost therapy hours and “this is a result of a failure to plan and invest in the specialised workforce and services for children with disabilities”, Ms McDonald told the Dáil.

In response, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said funding had been allocated but the HSE has said there is a recruitment issue.

"I'm not satisfied, not happy with the services provided through the HSE in respect of children with autism," he said.

“It's not at the scale or level that it should be at and it's not a funding issue.” 

He said the key issue is the capacity of the HSE to recruit therapists but said that is “no consolation to children and families trying to access services". 

He said there appears to be no issues recruiting therapists in other areas such as community care or in stroke units.

However, Ms McDonald said the difficulties have been “self-inflicted” by the Government and the HSE. She said if the State is not prepared to pay and reward people in terms of their take-home pay and pension entitlements in line with statutory standards "then you're going to have a problem in holding and recruiting staff". 

Mr Martin said in his view it was not about pay and conditions "but suffice to say the resources have been made available in terms of recruitment of clinicians and therapists". 

He said the Government would speak to the HSE in respect of the Darmody case and in respect of other children on waiting lists.

Mr Martin also said in terms of education and special schools, therapists were taken out of schools to have a general pool available, which has led to diluting the service.

He said the Government has made it clear it wants therapists back in schools.

Evictions

Labour leader Ivana Bacik told the Dáil that tenants in 20 homes on Rathmines Road are facing eviction due to the use of a “legal loophole” by a company.

She claimed the company has said the sale of the property would drop by 20% of its market value if the tenants were kept in place and would cause “undue hardship” to the landlord.

She said, according to reports, the landlord owns 70 apartments across Dublin City.

Mr Martin said there were a whole range of protections for renters but the Government would look at the specific issue Ms Bacik raised to see if anything could be done.

He said local authorities have been given the capacity to purchase tenancies in situ and said about 600 had been purchased to date.