Paul Murphy: Exposes Crisis in Children's Autism Services
Paul Murphy spoke about a national crisis in services for children with special needs, arguing hundreds of children remain on waiting lists and do not receive required early intervention. He warned the state is failing families and gave a specific case of a young autistic boy left without support and deteriorating in health.
National crisis in special-needs services
Paul Murphy said the programme for government promises improved intervention for children with special needs but that the reality is a national crisis. He said hundreds of children are on waiting lists for years and are not getting early intervention that is widely acknowledged as necessary.
Case example of a young boy
Murphy described a young mother’s account of her son, diagnosed with autism when he was younger, who was in mainstream school until age 11. He has been out of school since May 2017, his condition has deteriorated, he is refusing most food and is rapidly losing weight. The boy had been under the care of the Luchina clinic and was discharged in April; the clinic said it would refer him to disability services, but the disability services said they never received a referral, leaving him in limbo without the therapy he needs.
Local black spots in Dublin
Murphy identified particular black spots where services are especially poor, citing Tala and many other areas of Dublin as among those affected. He emphasised geographic disparities in access to special needs and disability services.
Official response offered
An official in the chamber expressed sympathy for the family, asked for the details to be passed to the office and said the matter would be checked into by the minister. The official repeated that the minister would investigate the case and follow up with the constituency office.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
The programme for government promises improved intervention for children with special needs but the reality is you have a national crisis with hundreds of children on waiting lists for years not getting the early intervention that everybody acknowledges is needed and the state is failing families. There are particular black spots, Tala and many other areas of Dublin are among those. I want to give one example to make this real for the Taoiseach. A young mother came to me a few weeks ago about her son who was diagnosed with autism when he was 11, sorry when he was younger. He was in mainstream school until he was 11. After that his condition deteriorated, became reclusive and has been out of school since May 2017. In the last few months his condition has deteriorated further again. He is refusing to eat most food and is rapidly losing weight. His family is extremely concerned that he will basically starve himself. to death. He was under the care of the Luchina clinic. He was discharged in April and they said they were going to refer him to the disability services. However, the disability services said they never got the referral and effectively this young man is left in limbo and there is no indication of him getting the therapy that he desperately requires. I am very sorry to hear about that case. I do not know the details, but if you want to pass them on to my office, our Minister McGrath will have it checked into. Mr. McGrath will have it checked into.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
