Golden handshakes contrast sharply with plight of local family

Dear Taoiseach, I'm sure this is a busy time for you. The future direction of fiscal control in Europe, not to speak of the future of the EU itself, must be foremost in your mind following Monday's deliberations in Brussels. In the coming days, we may be faced with the prospect of referendum in order to ratify a new fiscal treaty. However, perhaps it is not too much to ask that you devote some of your time to the plight of a County Meath family who are faced with difficulties surrounding the health of their son. I am deliberately contrasting his situation with that of some senior public servants who are retiring early for one reason or another and are the recipients of large payoffs. In recent days, the pending retirement of the secretary-general of the Department of Health was announced. It seems he is to get a package worth €540,000 and that it was sanctioned 'on the advice of thr attorney general'. He is retiring before the normal retirement age of 65 and has 38 years' service. He was awarded an added-years top-up to his pension to allow him to retire on the maximum 40-year pension level and, as he leaves, he will receive a cash lump sum of €323,385. He will then receive an annual pension of €107,795 for the rest of his life. In another part of the public service - the ESB - the chief executive is also retiring, this time with a package in the region of €800,000. Neither of these men is known to me. I have never met them nor spoken to them. I am sure they are people of integrity, that they have served the taxpayer well, and that they are entitled to retire at this time. Now I'd like to turn to David Kirwan. You won't know him. I do. He will be 11 on 6th March, 28 days before World Autism Day when autism organisations around the world celebrate the day with unique fundraising and awareness-raising events. I first met David and his family, parents Simon (a bus driver) and Dorothy (a homemaker) and younger brothers Conor and Adam in June last year. To outward appearances, David is a normal 10-year-old boy. He greets people with a ready smile, is chatty, has plenty of questions to ask, and has a loving relationship with the other members of the family. Yet, despite all that, he very often lives in an isolated world of his own, finds it hard to socialise with other children and needs constant care. David has Asperger's Syndrome. As you wil know, this is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterised by significant difficulties in social interaction along with restrictive and repetitive problems of behaviour and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its presentation of linguistic and cognitive development. Several thousand people in Ireland have the Asperger's condition, with more male than females affected. When I first met the Kirwans, they told me about their difficulty in accessing services and in getting information on what the future may hold for David. The family has received one knock-back in its attempts to improve David's life. Under previous arrangements, a special needs assistant was assigned to a child in a school. Now the SNA is assigned to the school as a whole. That resulted in David's mother coming across his class walking to the library one day and seeing him taking up the rear, with the danger that he is unaware of traffic hazards and might wander out onto the road. That was not the school's fault - it has to make do with the facilities it is given. Now there is a new blow. The family has just been refused a domicillary care allowance. This is a payment where a child has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and the need for care is likely to continue for at least 12 months. The payment is just slightly over €77 a week. The HSE used to decide on these cases but responsibility for appeals has now passed to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. When the Kirwans were refused the allowance for David, they submitted an appeal. The appeals officer who met them told them that he had no medical background or knowledge and that he knew nothing about Asperger's Syndrome. In his letter rejecting the appeal, he said: "The evidence presented is that the appellant's son, David, aged nine (the age given is is incorrect) has a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome and Attention Deficit Disorder with a need for greater supervision outside the home and reduced concentration necessitating additional support at school. While this is accepted, I am not satisfied it has been shown the level of support required can be regarded as falling within the guidelines outlined above and regretfully the appeal cannot be allowed." The family is now making a submission on the case to the Ombudsman. We seem to have lost all sense of proportion in this country. How can it be right or proper that handsomely remunerated public servants can walk away from their occupations with such huge sums and a little boy who faces a desperately uncertain future is refused a paltry sum of €77 a week so that he can be helped in his development? It is morally and ethically wrong. I would ask you to leave aside the fiscal complexities for a few moments. Lift the phone and speak to Dorothy and Simon Kirwan. Tell them that, as Taoiseach, you will try to help them. Tell them that you care. Yours sincerely, Paul Murphy