COMMENTS MADE BY Danny Healy Rae about the cause of autism have been heavily criticised today by TDs and an autism advocacy group. 

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday evening, during a private members’ motion on special education school places, Independent TD Danny Healy Rae linked autism with a lack of vitamins.

“It seems to me that many more are presenting [as autistic] than in my younger days, and even when I was going to school, it didn’t seem to be an issue at all at that time, very few anyway,” Healy Rae said. 

“So I’m wondering is there something causing it. Is it lack of some vitamins or what is it?,” the Kerry TD said. 

His remarks have been met with criticism today, with Sinn Féin TD Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh, Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins and Labour TD Eoghan Kenny writing to Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil, Verona Murphy, to request that he withdraw the remarks and issue an apology. 

“The remarks were not only factually incorrect, but they also reflect a lack of understanding and sensitivity on an issue of profound importance. Families, some of whom were present in the gallery at the time, were deeply hurt by these statements. 

“Such contributions diminish the standard of informed debate that the Oireachtas is expected to uphold,” Cummins wrote. 

Healy Rae’s contribution was also criticised by the autism organisation AsIAm, which said in a statement that the comments were “unhelpful” and “misinformed”. 

The organisation stressed that autism is a “natural variation in human neurology” and said that rather than there being more autistic people now than in the past, there is instead more people accessing diagnosis. 

Ní Raghallaigh said she was “genuinely shocked” by Healy Rae’s remarks.

“Suggesting that autism, which is a complex neurodevelopmental condition, can somehow magically be ‘fixed’ by taking vitamins is pathologising people unnecessarily and unfairly.

“We know that diagnoses of autism are rising due to increased awareness, better screening, broader diagnostic criteria and wider acceptance of difference in society,” she said. 

When contacted by The Journal, Danny Healy Rae said he did not wish to comment.