Mattie McGrath Urges Action on Autism Assessment Crisis
Mattie McGrath addressed the Dáil about the crisis in autism assessments and therapeutic supports, highlighting Cara Damody's national advocacy and a family's struggle to secure care. He called for urgent action on long waits, uneven therapist availability and prohibitive costs for assessments.
Cara Damody in the public eye
Cara Damody was noted in the gallery with her father Mark. She sat a junior cycle maths exam at 11 to raise awareness, scored 97% on the Late Late Show, holds a Tipperary Young Carer Award and a Tipperary Person Award, and recently testified to a committee.
Family hardship and costs
McGrath described the family's attempts to get an assessment for Cara's brother Neil, saying an assessment could be secured only at a cost of €1,730. He described Neil at 12 as having the mental age of maybe six months, self-harming, and the emotional toll on the family who raise funds for others and take no money for themselves.
Service gaps and administrative causes
He identified patchy availability of therapists across the country and insufficient numbers to meet need. McGrath attributed part of the problem to the rollout of progressing disability services and said the Health Service Executive cites recoupment as its biggest challenge for therapists and assessments.
Political response and next steps
McGrath said he had convened meetings of relevant ministers from Education to Health, that the education sector had responded well but health had not, and that efforts will continue to resolve the issue. He urged a reasonable response, noting the urgency for the roughly 1,800 children waiting for assessments and support.
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Goel ma'am, goethe, Teachta, you're aware of who Cara Damody is. Cara is here today in the gallery with her dad, Mark. She's the most high profile autism advocate in Ireland today. She recently sat a junior cycle maths exam at only 11 years of age to raise awareness of lack of therapies and assessments for autistic children. She's got an incredible result of 97% on the Late Late Show, live actually, and she's got a Tipperary Young Carer Award, she's got a Tipperary Person Award, and she's testified to rock this committee only last week. She's now going to sit her leave insert at the age of 12 in an effort to raise awareness for the crisis for the 1800 children that are waiting for assessments and waiting for support. And they could get an assessment for her brother Neil, but it cost them €1,730. And like, why is that so? Why can't they hate to see deal with these people? She has to sit and watch Neil, and I was in the house last night, who has the mental age, I suppose, of maybe six months, at 12, and to see him self-harming, and to see him and just damage into himself, and has to endure that. So she's an advocate, and a very special advocate, nationally, and they raise so much money, not one penny for themselves, for other people to get services. Surely this must be corrected, and it's your last day in office, so I hope that you give a reasonable response, that we do something for these people, who so badly need to be recognised and supported. Thank you very much, Deputy for raising the issue, and we met in the office some months ago, and discussed these issues, and it's not acceptable, and I've said this repeatedly, I've convened meetings of all the relevant ministers from Education to Health, there is an issue in respect of the rollout of progressive, progressing disability, and the impact that had, in my view, on the availability of therapists, in special schools, or therapists more generally, it's very, very patchy across the country, there is not a sufficiency of therapists in place to provide for children, on the health side, the education side has responded well, but the health, the health side has not, the health HSE are saying recoupment is their biggest problem and challenge in terms of therapists, and in terms of assessments, but we are going back at this, in terms of getting this issue sorted. Thank you, Tisha.
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