Sharon Keogan: HSE probe exposes hollowed-out state
Sharon Keogan addresses an Irish Examiner report and the HSE investigation into alleged transfers of over 1.5 million by Autism Initiatives Ireland dating back to 2019. She uses the report to argue this incident exposes systemic failure in the governance of autism services and other public supports.
Fragmented services and weak oversight
Keogan says the autism services landscape is defined by fragmentation: dozens of NGOs and charities, many largely funded by taxpayers, delivering overlapping services with little coordination, strategic planning or enforced efficiency. She highlights that oversight is often procedural rather than focused on outcomes, that service level agreements measure activity not results, and that the state removed centralized responsibility when Benefax was disbanded in 2023.
Consequences and call for debate
Keogan warns that offloading core public services onto NGOs without building institutional architecture to govern them allows inefficiency, waste and risk to accumulate until they surface as headlines. She calls for a parliamentary debate and argues that until Ireland rebuilds public institutions capable of designing, managing and disciplining these services, controversies like this will be inevitable.
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I rise today to talk about a story reported this morning in the Irish Examiner in which it was announced the HSE has launched an investigation into the alleged transfer by the charity Autism Initiatives Ireland of over 1.5 million to the UK, transfers alleged to have taken place as far back as 2019. Rather than dwell on the specific details of the case which are to be investigated, I want to address what this story reveals about the wider state of public infrastructure and support in this country, or more accurately the alarming absence of it. Even a cursory glance at the autism service landscape reveals a system defined by fragmentation and disorder. Dozens of NGOs and charities operate in this space, many almost entirely funded by the taxpayer, often delivering overlapping services with little evidence of coordination, strategic planning or enforced efficiency. And this is just one area, autism, before we can even touch homelessness, disability, mental health and more broadly our other marginalised groups. What we're seeing is a state that has offloaded the delivery of core public services onto the NGOs without building the institutional architecture required to govern such a model properly. Responsibility has been blindly outsourced and we had that responsibility when Benefax was there but they got rid of it back in 2023. Oversight exists largely on paper. Service level agreements that measure activity rather than outcomes. Orders that occur after money has been spent. Regulators are focused on compliance rather than value for money. There is no single authority tasked with ensuring the basic of governance. This creates a system where inefficiency is tolerated, waste goes unchallenged and risk accumulates quietly until it emerges as a headline like the one we read today. The problem here is not charity and it is not goodwill. The problem is a hollowed-out state that no longer designs, manages or disciplines the system it funds. Until we rebuild real public institutions capable of doing that work, controversies like this will not be the exception. This will be inevitable. So we would like a debate in relation to this and thank you very much.
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