Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have learned an amount about autism. Services for children with special needs, including autism, were moved from Cork to Limerick when the Government decided to divide the resources by county. This was done in the middle of a pandemic. This was very difficult for some parents, who had to do a 60-mile round trip. They were given an alternative only in Limerick city. Representatives of the St. Gabriel's centre, which is working out of St. Joseph's Foundation in Charleville, came to my constituency office in Kilmallock looking for any premises in which they could meet service users in County Limerick. Luckily, my office, which was a doctor's surgery, was suitable for such a premises. I gave up a room in my office to facilitate St. Gabriel's so it could carry out assessments of people with autism in a time of pandemic, when the Government let them down. I am so delighted that my staff and all the friends around me have welcomed the service. There are those in County Limerick with no assessment infrastructure. I have given up a room in my office to facilitate them. When I see the parents and children that we are helping in our community and the difference St. Gabriel's makes, I realise it is wrong for the Government to do what it did in the middle of a pandemic. I ask everyone who can help anyone with autism to allow the services to operate.

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