'Failed our little boy miserably' - Louth parents given no support for autistic son

Parents from Louth have spoken out about the lack of support and services for their young son with autism who was also recently diagnosed with ADHD.

David and Tina Maguire from Carlingford in Louth were on Kieran Cuddihy's first RTE Liveline show following Joe Duffy's retirement to speak out about the lack of support for their child Senan.

Senan is now 13-years-old and was diagnosed with autism when he was four-years-old and has had very little if any support for his complex needs, particularly around psychology services, they said.

His father David Maguire told Kieran on Liveline: "It's eleven years we are chasing supports for our little boy....we have been chasing psychology since December of 2014 and between then and now he has never had a one-on-one session with a psychologist."

David explained that in 2021 there was a psychologist who was engaged with him but they only spoke directly to his mother Tina or other family members. He said that no psychologist has directly spoken to his son.

David said that after Senan turned two the family started noticing little signs and red flags.

"Enable Ireland was the first to pick up on Senan's issues and told us to apply for a diagnosis....we moved to Carlingford in 2014 and since then we've been on the Louth services.

"From the first diagnosis in 2014 we are still chasing help for Senan....he never got one-on-one therapy."

David said that since moving to Louth they were "pushed back and pushed back" in trying to secure help for their son.

"I don't cry very often, Kieran, but me and Tina sat in our car in December 2014 and the both of us were bawling crying on our own. We realised that there was a list of excuses...a list of reasons to not help our little boy....from then on we started investing ourselves into our own little boy."

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David said that Senan needs full-time care and 24-hour supervision.

He was suspended from school in January 2025 and then was expelled on World Autism Awareness Day on April 2025.

"It's led to the stage where he was sat at home from January to October...now thank God he is back in school...that's brilliant but he struggles everyday dealing with the world and a lot of people have failed us miserably and failed our little boy miserably."

David explained that because his son wasn't receiving the therapy he needs, they were waiting for the day something terrible happens like somebody getting terribly hurt.

Senan didn't speak until he was seven years old and his father said thank God he is speaking now because he has only received small blocks of speech therapy over the years.

David also explained that the family, including Senan's two other siblings, had lost their sister back in 2015 who was only four years old.

"Senan witnessed all of this....he was only six and a half at the time.....and not one hour of bereavement therapy has been given to him in that seven years since our little girl has passed.....he seen everything," he explained in a heartbreaking interview.

Senan's mother Tina also spoke on the show and said that whenever Senan has a meltdown he will shout for his little sister every time.

Tina said: "She died in my arms at home...there was no warning; it was acute sepsis. Senan came off the bus from school that day, he walked in and saw his little sister on the floor and people working on her.

"That was the start of Senan's self-harming; he started self-harming from the trauma. We didn't have time to get counselling for ourselves. Senan started lashing out from that moment on."

Tina said that life for her is full on and she can't work because caring for Senan is 24/7, even if he is in school in case something happens at school.

"We have zero social life, neighbours don't call, friends don't call because it's so busy here if Senan get's over stimulated. We don't go out...we get three restbites a month where we pretend we have a normal life. We spend time with the other two boys doing things that Senan can't do like going to the cinema or going into a restaurant; that's a luxury for us."

Tina said that having an autistic son with very little support has taken a huge toll on the family.

"It's sad, if you look at the statistics the amount of broken or failed marriages; couples falling apart because there is so much strain. You don't have time for each other. Myself and Dave, if we are lucky, we get out once a year. We go for dinner for our anniversary or one of our birthdays."

Tina said that the system is 'a failure' and feels sorry for the parents who have children that are diagnosed with autism and have to go down the road that her and her family have gone through to try and get support.

"It's not fit for purpose," she said, "when you do get to the top of these queues and you do get your therapy, we've been there and done that, when Dave said he got speech therapy; it was five or six non-verbal students in a classroom, no teacher present, no parent present....that was the only speech therapy he got."