A Statement from Eoin Motherway – Director Shine Ireland

Given the current commentary surrounding the operations of a national autism organisation I feel it is important on behalf of the Board and staff of Shine Ireland that I reassure the many children and families that we work with about the operations of our organisation. Shine does not collaborate with this national organisation on  service programmes, autism awareness, advocacy or fundraising initiatives. We are a standalone, independent, voluntary organisation with its own Board of Directors and governance policies.

• Shine Ireland is a client focused and child centred organisation and will provide in excess of 19,000 client contact hours to our children and client families this year.
• We are working with between 70 and 80 children and adolescents and their families at any given time through our Early Learning Unit, PALS Programme and Building Blocks services.
• Our Family Support Service works on approximately 250 cases each year. Our Advice Line handles in excess of 2,500 calls per annum.
• All of our services are free at the point of delivery to our children and client families and we do not charge an annual membership fee.
• Shine’s services are funded through grant aid and direct payment agreements with the HSE and Department of Education and the generosity of the many people and companies that support our fundraising efforts.

All of our services operate at maximum capacity and we have always endeavoured to incrementally increase our services over the last number of years. Unfortunately it is not possible to make places available on our programmes to all of the families who seek those places. This is something that as an organisation we are keenly aware of and we are constantly working on ways to increase the number of places we can offer.

Kind Regards,

Eoin Motherway

Director

Shine Ireland/Irish Progressive Assoc’ for Autism Co Ltd.