The parents of a 14-year-old autistic boy with severe behavioural problems have rejected a request from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern that they place their child in a service which they say is linked to a psychiatric hospital.
Mr Ahern made a private visit to the parents of Lewis O'Carolan in Phibsboro last month and urged them to enter their son into a State-funded education unit in north Dublin which, he said, would meet the boy's needs.
However, Colm and Annette O'Carolan say the State's care and education plans at Woodlawn in north Dublin are based on a psychiatric model and would "destroy" their son's potential.
The service planned by the State is operated by St Joseph's Intellectual Disability Service, which was criticised in a report last month by the Inspector of Mental Health Services for its use of strait-jackets and protocols over the use of psychotropic medication.
The O'Carolans had been holding protests outside Mr Ahern's constituency clinic in recent weeks and collecting signatures from the public.
The parents failed in a High Court battle to have the State fund a placement for their son at an autism-specific centre in Wales which experts said would help him reach his full potential.
The High Court ruled that the education plans drawn up by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Department of Education at Woodlawn were "objectively adequate" to meet Lewis's needs.
However, following a fundraising campaign which has raised €55,000 in public donations, the O'Carolans are to send their son for a three-month assessment at the Bangor Centre for Developmental Disabilities in Wales from next month.
The money was raised through a special "appropriate education fund" which was established by the Hope Project, an organisation founded by disability rights campaigner Kathy Sinnott MEP.
Annette O'Carolan said yesterday that the family had been overwhelmed by the public response and she would continue to campaign to lobby the State to fund Lewis's education in Wales.
"For now, at least, we'll no longer have the fear that he'll be pointed in the direction of a mental home and drugged. Instead, he will have a better quality of life, learn how to communicate more effectively and live more independently. It's amazing what difference a year can make with the right intervention," she said.
"Lewis is not psychiatrically ill," Ms O'Carolan added.
"He has a developmental disability, not a psychiatric illness. What is being planned is totally inappropriate for Lewis."
She said the cost of sending Lewis to Wales was around €250,000 per year.
The Irish Autism Action support group estimates that the cost of the placement in north Dublin is between €300,000 and €350,000.
The HSE, which has not put a figure on the cost of its proposed services, said Lewis would receive multidisciplinary care at Woodlawn and would be cared for and educated along with a small number of intellectually disabled young people.
It said all major intellectual disability services in the country employ consultant psychiatrists with a special interest in intellectual disability and multidisciplinary support teams.
In a letter to the family, Mr Ahern urged the family to discuss with health and education authorities the provision of services for Lewis at Woodlawn as soon as possible.
