No 'separate pot of money' available to make Mayo an autism friendly county

The Chief Executive of Mayo County Council has warned that there is 'no separate pot of money' to carry out initiatives to make Mayo the first autism friendly county in Ireland.

A presentation on the proposal to make a number of towns in Mayo autism friendly was presented to members of Mayo County Council at the April monthly meeting on Monday. A number of towns in the county have launched plans to become autism friendly towns in a bid to help improve the lives of autistic people and their families.

Rebecca Connor-Wood and Alisha Beattie from Ballina Autism Friendly Town gave the presentation to councillors where they explained that changes to car parking and signage are just some of the ways the local authority can help improve inclusivity for people with autism and their families.

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The presentation was greatly received by local councillors who gave their backing behind the campaign to make Mayo an autism friendly county.

However, when pressed by councillors on what funding will be available to make changes within the county, Kevin Kelly, Chief Executive of Mayo County Council stressed that any initiatives will have to come from the existing council budget.

“The members understand that there is no separate pot of money for initiatives like this and many other things unfortunately. In the absence of a centrally funded government programme as a local authority all we can do is incorporate these issues into our normal workgroup.

“The members are aware that this budget was the first in many years where there was an additional fund made available to each of the Municipal Districts and some will be used in car parks and initiatives around towns.

“There is an opportunity to incorporate some elements of these requirements into that work but in the absence of an overall funded programme the best we can do is to ensure we can incorporate appropriate elements into our normal work programme funded by our standard funding streams,” he said.

Inclusivity benefits everyone

During the presentation, Ms Connor-Wood, who is autistic, explained that introducing autism friendly car parking close to shops and facilities will reduce stress and the changes of a meltdown while symbol based signage will also help.

She explained that while these changes will help the autistic community, they will also help other sectors of society.

“We hope more towns come on board to become the first autistic friendly county in the country,” she said

“The aim is towards inclusivity and not just benefit the autistic community but this will benefit the disabled community and people hard of hearing and Alzheimer's. Inclusivity benefits everyone.”

Fine Gael councillor Jarlath Munnelly said it was important to emphasise the autistic friendly towns will benefit the whole community and urged Mayo County Council to lead the way.

“The beauty of making Co Mayo or the towns of Mayo autistic friendly is it sits better for everyone. Making Mayo autism friendly will benefit everybody.

“Mayo County Council should look at its own space and buildings and parks and playgrounds and make those places more autism friendly,” he said.

His party colleague, Cllr Ger Deere said small changes can make a huge difference to families and welcomed a proposal for a working group to look into how to make Mayo as inclusive as possible.

There was praise by a number of councillors for the work businesses and organisations around Mayo were already putting in place to make it easier for people with autism. Cllr Brendan Mulroy praised the management of the Castlebar bowling alley while Cllr Blackie Gavin, said the Manulla Football Club deserves a national award for its efforts.

However, Cllr Peter Flynn commented that the council was 'strapped for cash' and it was unrealistic to think the council could deliver initiatives based on how it currently operates. Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne echoed that saying that the only support the councillors could give was through their GMA fund.