An order directing the State to provide appropriate education and residential care services for an autistic boy was issued by the High Court yesterday.
Shortly after Adam O'Callaghan (7), of Springfield, Tipperary, was diagnosed as autistic, his parents became desperate, the court was told. Adam slept for just two hours daily, his behaviour became bizarre, and looking after him after school hours became impossible.
However, in September 1995 the boy was accepted as a pupil in Boston Higashi Special School for Autistic Children in the US at a cost of some £50,000 a year.
In documents handed into court, the child's parents said they remortgaged their home and raised funds to cover the cost of the placement. However, now they required £30,000 to cover the cost of the term from January to April this year. The parents have sought funding from the Ministers for Education and Health, the Attorney General and the South Eastern Health Board without success. Since no residential school placement suitable for the boy's needs was available in the SEHB area, the parents said his needs could best be met by continuing in Boston, at a cost equivalent to providing a residential setting in Ireland.
Mr Brendan O'Callaghan said the SEHB had made a once-off £10,000 payment toward his son's Boston education and had suggested assessment and placement at St Patrick's Centre, Kilkenny, which was a special school for moderately mentally handicapped. However, St Patrick's had neither the resources nor staff to work with children with autism.