War of Words at Council meeting over Autism services
Waterford City Council
Accusations flew at the most recent Metropolitan meeting of Waterford City and County Council when local Fianna Fail Councillor Eamon Quinlan addressed the issue of families having members with Autism being assessed as Priority 2 under medical grading for housing applications.
Cllr Quinlan previously raised the issue that housing staff had confirmed to him that those with Autism, in practice, were not getting medically assessed as priority. Cllr Quinlan took issue with the Council's response to media queries on the issue.
Speaking, Cllr Quinlan said: “ I must say I found the Council’s response to be very disingenuous. I raised the fact that we passed a policy that entitles families where a member has Autism, that they can be ranked Priority 1 but in practice that is simply not happening.” A member of the executive responded that such a policy does exist.
Cllr. Quinlan responded: “That the heading is that we are prepared to allow those with Autism be ranked Priority 1 but that in truth, we are not allowing that.” The tense exchange, with the Councillor and Executive Officer accusing each other of acting disingenuously, then ended.
Speaking the next day Cllr Quinlan said: “As you can imagine, there was a flurry of phone calls after the meeting between myself and housing officials. Needless to say, I was able to produce the emails supporting my position. It was clarified that the housing official thought I was saying the Council was not collecting data on applications. The Council does do this and shares it with us.”
