The HSE confirmed yesterday it is reviewing Autism Initiatives Ireland (AII), now trading as Autism a Chara, which it funds annually to provide aut\u00adism support services, including residential care for adults.<\/p>\n
A HSE spokesperson said the \u201cHSE did not approve, nor was it \u00adnotified in advance or retrospectively, of any transfer of HSE-funded monies or assets by Autism Initiatives Ireland to UK-based or other external entities\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), in correspondence from HSE chief Anne O\u2019Connor, was told a review was under way into how around \u20ac1.5m in public funding was allegedly transferred to the wider UK organisation.<\/p>\n
A briefing note from Ms \u00adO\u2019Connor to the committee said the HSE did not provide any approval to transfer the funds.<\/p>\n
She added that all funding provided to the charity is only to be used for providing disability services within Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe HSE has no evidence at this time that services were contracted, delivered or invoiced by UK-based entities in connection with the transfers referenced by the committee,\u201d Ms O\u2019Connor stated.<\/p>\n
Asked to clarify the issue, a HSE spokesperson said: \u201cAutism Initiatives Ireland, now trading as Autism a Chara, is funded by the HSE as a Section 39 organisation under annual service arrangements and is subject to contractual, financial and \u00adgovernance oversight, including submission of audited annual financial statements and annual financial management returns.<\/p>\n
\nWe have not heard from the HSE and so are surprised to learn that they are commencing a review<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThe HSE are currently in the process of reviewing available information. Autism Initiatives Ireland advised the HSE in January, 2026 that it was transitioning away from the Autism Initiatives Group in the UK and will become a wholly Irish-based charity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe HSE acknowledges the seriousness of the matters raised and will continue to engage with the Public Accounts Committee and relevant statutory partners as appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to the Irish Independent, a spokesman for Autism a Chara said: \u201cWe have not heard from the HSE and so are surprised to learn that they are commencing a review.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey previously investigated the same set of allegations, from the same source, and the claims were not substantiated.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorporate recharging, for services provided to us by the wider organisation in UK, has been in place for many years. We recognise the significant benefit we have received over that time from the centralised support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe HSE has been well aware of this arrangement. We reiterate that there was no impropriety established by HSE as there was no impropriety to find.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The HSE confirmed yesterday it is reviewing Autism Initiatives Ireland (AII), now trading as Autism a Chara, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,2271,13,14,6,60,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-461249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eilish-oregan","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-hse","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news","24":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116493248721313004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}