Parents of a severely autistic boy have lost their bid to have their son moved to a Welsh centre for developmental disabilities, after a High Court ruled today that the State advanced an "objectively adequate" alternative in Dublin.
The boy’s parents, and experts called by them, had expressed concerns that the Dublin facility would not meet his needs and had proposed the Bangor centre for developmental disabilities in north Wales as an alternative.
Mrs Annette O’Carolan had told the court her son Lewis was "dying on his feet for intervention" and that she had heard proposals for years for his care but "never anything concrete". "He is becoming more entrenched in the world of autism and it’s just heartbreaking to watch."
"It’s not just about putting him in somewhere," she said. ‘We were accused of looking for the best for Lewis, the Rolls Royce of services.. we were just looking for a programme of education, a standard programme of education that was acceptable by best international practice, which isn’t the best, it’s just standard and it’s appropriate for autistic children."
However Mr Justice John McMenamim directed that Lewis be placed in "Woodlawn", a unit near Lusk, Co Dublin.
He urged that the considerations and perceptions which gave rise to the unfortunate circumstances of the case should not now be used as a ground for refusal to participate in the Woodlawn proposal which represented "a significant step forward" as part of a process to be maintained and supervised by the courts.
The Woodlawn proposal was first advanced by the State and Northern Area Health Board after legal proceedings were brought by the boy’s parents, Colm and Annette, of Norfolk Road, Phibsboro.
In a reserved judgment, the judge said no legal authority had been cited to the effect that parents were entitled to choose the exact type of care and education which their child received.
While the parents’ preference was for the Bangor facility, the evidence showed that "a constitutionally appropriate provision" had been put in place and was available to Lewis here, he held. The court was satisfied the issue was not whether Woodlawn was better than Bangor but whether it was "appropriate".