Caron Hourigan is the mother of 7 year old Dylan, who has autism. Since receiving his diagnoses he has had very limited intervention from government services such as Enable Ireland. She has had to depend on the work of the school he attends and the work that she can do with Dylan at home.
She also works in a pre-school in Carrickmacross and has first hand experience with trying to get extra support in classrooms for children with additional needs that are attending the pre-school.
When speaking to Northern Sound News she said that she will continue to fight for help in order to give Dylan the best opportunities in life. She believes that if she lived in maybe a different county she would be able to access services for Dylan until he was 18 however, because she is in this region that service ends at the age of 6, with children then referred on.
You can hear Caron's full interview here:
Following the interview we got in touch with Enable Ireland about their provision of services in Cavan and Monghan. We asked them to clarify what way services were provided and divided around the country. This is the statement we were given by Enable Ireland:
Many thanks for your email and your interest in Enable Ireland.
Enable Ireland provides services to children and adults with disabilities throughout Ireland.
Each service location has a different service level agreement with the HSE, and access criteria is different for every area.
The Enable Ireland service in Cavan/Monaghan provides services to children aged 0 – 6 years with complex needs who require a team based service.
Our service arrangement with the HSE is to provide services to this group of children up until the age of 6 years, after which they are then transferred to the HSE Child Development Team and /or Primary Care services for ongoing service provision.
Enable Ireland accepts referrals of all children whose needs meet the criteria. Parents can self-refer as can schools and pre-schools as well as health professionals.
Due to the significant demands on our service, we do unfortunately have a waiting list which is steadily growing. It is a continuing challenge to meet the needs within the parameters of current resources.
For more information, please visit www.enableireland.ie