Victoria White had a very interesting piece in The Evening Herald on Monday explaining why she voted against the children’s rights referendum even though she had fully intended 
voting in favour.
In the end she voted against it because of her direct experience of social workers.
She explained in the Herald that her son was exhibiting certain behavioural problems and so she contacted the HSE which sent a social worker to her home to assess the situation.
The social worker concluded that it was the fault of Victoria and her husband that their son was behaving as he was.
The social worker proposed her solution: “Dad needed to spend more time with the children. Mam needed to work outside the home. Then we might look like one of those politically correct families they had in one of their textbooks in college.”
Incredibly, Victoria and her husband (former Green Minister, Eamon Ryan) persisted with the social worker for almost two years.
Finally they lost patience and went private instead. A psychiatrist diagnosed that their son was autistic.
As Victoria explains, this is a genetic condition and the behaviour of parents is no more responsible for autism than it would be for Down Syndrome.
It is almost beyond belief that the social worker couldn’t spot autism and was instead intent on blaming the fact that Eamon Ryan was working ‘too many hours’ outside the house and Victoria was a stay-at-home mum.
Based on this experience, it’s no wonder Victoria voted No in the end.