I had planned on raising a different issue, but I got an email last night from a woman in Wexford called Jane Johnston who is the mother of two severely autistic children, Daniel and Evan. She is at the end of her wits from trying to deal with the HSE. I will read a little of her email:

Evan is now 17 years old and was diagnosed with severe autism just before his third birthday. He did not develop any speech, and remains non-verbal, but has excellent comprehension. He has significant mobility issues, and due to a degenerative eye condition he also has significant visual impairment. Evan lost his dad due to a sudden cardiac arrest almost three years ago. His brother, Daniel, also has significant autism. Evan has been the survivor of more tragedy in his 17 years than most of us will witness in a lifetime. He never stops trying, and he has the same lust for life and adventure as any other boy his age. He deserves respect, the right to dignity, and to live the best life he can, but he is seen and treated as an inconvenience and a problem to our health service because he is different, and difference comes at a cost. Banners around our town in Wexford tell us that it is okay to ask for help, but since my husband passed away I have had to ask for help for the very survival of my family. I have been threatened with foster care, [and was] advised to call the Garda if Evan has a meltdown because the HSE failed to give him the support he needs. When I took issue with these threats I was told that I could be referred to Tusla in the absence of my consent.

A few months ago, when announcing the creation of additional and long-overdue special needs assistant, SNA posts, the Taoiseach said, "Fine Gael in Government is determined to ensure that our recovering economy will pay dividends for all, particularly the most vulnerable".

The Taoiseach added that this announcement reflects the programme for Government commitment to ensure that all children with special needs can maximise their potential.

When the HSE encourages a parent to call gardaí to take into custody an autistic teenager who might develop behavioural problems at a time when the HSE has shut down for the weekend, does that sound as if it might maximise the potential of that child? For the autistic teenager who thrives on routine and who just needed to get out of the house for a few hours in a given week, but could not because the HSE would not provide respite care, does the Taoiseach think the psychological impact of being forcibly restrained and dragged away by untrained, unknown gardaí might maximise the potential of that child? When the parent says he or she will not call the Garda and the HSE manager then threatens to refer him or her to Tusla in the absence of his or her consent, does that sound as it if might maximise the potential of that parent's child? Is it fair on the gardaí who are already under-resourced and, more importantly, untrained in how to handle vulnerable children with special needs?

We have a serious problem with the HSE in Wexford, and the most vulnerable are the people who are being treated the worst. I have put four questions to the Taoiseach. How much potential is there for him to hold the HSE to account on these matters?

The Deputy will appreciate that I am not in a position to comment in the House on individual cases. I do not have any information on this case and even if I did I would be bound to respect the confidentiality of the person concerned. However, I am very sorry to hear about the experience the citizen the Deputy mentioned and the family have had. If the Deputy wishes to pass the information to me, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, or the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath, we will have it examined.

The Deputy has acknowledged the significant increases in supports that have been provided in the last year or so for people with disabilities, whether it is the medical card as a right for children with severe disabilities, the 1,000 extra special needs assistants, SNAs, or the fact that we now spend more on special education than on higher education. However, there is always more work to do. The Minister has set up a working group on autism to examine service provision and what is good and bad practice. He expects to receive that report in a few weeks. He is also developing Ireland's first national autism strategy, which every Member of the House will welcome. The budget provided for increased funding for respite care, home care, school leavers and emergency places for 2018 and the details of that will be included in the HSE service plan. In addition, it is also planned to pilot speech and language therapy in schools in 2018 as part of our ongoing efforts to improve services for our citizens with disabilities who need so much support.

Much of the extra money that has been allotted for this area is being swallowed up by private entities. The people trying to rear families that include children with severe autism will be the first to tell the Taoiseach that many of the private institutions that provide care do not represent value for money, although some of them do. In most cases, these entities are getting €24 per hour for this work. The money being allotted to this area could be used much better if the Government was not so obsessed with going to the private sector. This woman has been seeking a business plan for Evan's transition from child to adult services. The HSE will not even communicate with her. How she is being treated by the HSE is unbelievable. I will not name the people with whom she has had such a dysfunctional relationship, but it is not being done properly. The HSE has incredible questions to answer on this area. The Taoiseach says he will ensure that all children with special needs can maximise their potential, but that is not happening. It sounds false to these people. They are frustrated to death with the problems they are facing. Unfortunately, the HSE is a problem, not a solution, for them. Nobody appears to be able to hold it to account.

Our duty is to ensure that all children in the country have the opportunity to grow up to be the best adults they can be and that people with disabilities, in particular, have all the opportunities possible to maximise their potential. We will never reach the point where anyone can say the work is done. There will always be more work to do in this area and more efforts that we must undertake.

The Deputy's fundamental point is correct. The money is not being spent across the disability services as well as it could be. That is not only the case with private sector providers, but also public providers and those in the charity sector. The solution we want to move to is personalised budgets which give people with special needs or disabilities a personal budget which they or their guardians can use in whatever way they decide is in their best interests. That will not be popular among some private or charity sector providers or even the HSE because it will challenge them all to provide a better service or have their service closed. Nevertheless, it is what we want to move to. Pilots have been done and a task force has been established.

In terms of greater accountability on the HSE's part, the Minister has already announced his plans to establish a HSE board. There is no board for the HSE and we believe its creation would improve accountability.