Mattie McGrath confronts HSE over 14-year-old's neglect
Deputy Mattie McGrath raised with the minister the case of a 14-year-old boy in Tipperary with severe additional needs, alleging neglect by the HSE and a near-total lack of respite. He said the child had received just three hours of respite since last May and one overnight and described the family as being at their "last resort" and in crisis.
Case raised with the minister
The deputy presented an eight-page letter from the child’s mother and urged immediate intervention. He said the child requires at a minimum weekly respite and that current provision is "appalling," calling for any humanity to prevent the situation continuing.
Alleged service failings
The deputy accused the CD&T team, disability services and respite services of failing the child, saying shared residential care is being ignored by the HSE as "the last resort." He emphasised the family are in crisis and cannot be ignored any further.
Minister's response and planned actions
The minister thanked the deputy for raising the case and said he will ask the HSE for a detailed note. He told the deputy that the solution requires hiring a significant additional number of healthcare professionals and filling several hundred sanctioned posts that are currently unfilled.
Recruitment and service models
The minister said the HSE has found it harder to fill children's healthcare roles in disability services and mental health services than adult roles. He said he is engaged directly with the HSE, that different service provision models are being considered, but that ultimately hiring into sanctioned roles is necessary so this child and others waiting for care receive it quickly.
Local urgency and consequences
The deputy highlighted the local impact in Tipperary and the acute priority posed by the child's severe needs. Both speaker and minister framed the case as urgent, with the family described as having reached the last resort and requiring immediate attention from disability and respite services.
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.
Minister, I want to raise with you a very important case of a 14-year-old boy in Tipperary with severe additional needs and the absolute neglect this child has and his family are receiving at the hands of the HSE. Despite having severe needs and being an acute priority and requiring at a minimum weekly respite, the child has received just three hours of respite since last May and just one overnight. It's appalling. The CD&T team are failing him, disability services are failing him, respite services are practically non-existent and his need for shared residential care is being completely ignored with the HSE saying that that is the last resort. This family have reached the last resort and I salute his mum and dad at this stage. They are at the last resort, they are in crisis and they cannot be ignored any further. I have an eight-page letter here which I have just handed to you from his mother, the child's mother, sorry, and please, please, please, it's just an appalling situation and any humanity at all, it shouldn't be allowed to continue like this. It's appalling. Thanks very much for raising this, Deputy and thank you for passing on the case. I will ask the HSE for a detailed note on it. What needs to happen in disability services is that there needs to be a very significant additional number of healthcare professionals hired. We have sanction in place for several hundred posts that are currently unfilled. The HSE have found it harder to fill the children's healthcare roles in disability services and mental health services than the adult roles. It's a matter I'm engaged directly with the HSE on. They are looking at different service provision models, but ultimately the solution to this is to hire into the roles that have already been sanctioned and make sure that this child and all of the other children waiting for care get it quickly. Good morning.
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.
