Local Senator and Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Autism, Micheál Carrigy, has called on the HSE to urgently fill staff vacancies in autism services across the country.
There are currently 700 children on a waiting list for services across County Longford.
Senator Carrigy says staff are needed across all Disciplines especially Speech and Language therapy, Occupational therapy, Physiotherapy and Psychology.
He said there are significant shortages across the country in the various Children's Disability Network Teams and he wants the Oireachtas Committee on Autism to be a platform for parents' voices.
The Fine Gael Senator says the funding is there for filling these positions.
"The funding is there, the commitment is there from the government, the money is there for these positions and from a HSE management level this is not properly managed at all and the human resources department should be looking forward at the numbers that are needed. They should be working with third level educational facilities to make sure that that there is enough of people coming on stream to be able to fill these positions."
