It can be very difficult to get a clear picture on what anyone’s rights and entitlements are in Ireland. Unfortunately, the State will not often advertise people’s rights to services and benefits, and many of them are subject to means and/or assessment.
When we review these Rights & Entitlements, we should remember that the European Parliament adopted a written declaration of a "Charter of Rights for Persons with Autism".
Benefits and Services
We have prepared a check-list of some of your entitlements, benefits and services. Welfare benefits are available from the Department of Social Protection to families and those people assessed as having a disability. There is also the entitlement to health service benefits from the Health Service Executive (HSE). The Department of Education has the responsibility for the provision of an appropriate educational service. The North-South Middletown Centre offers training and information specific for the autism community. Your local authority looks after a number of support services, including housing.
In terms of independent advice and information, we can refer you to the new web-site published in 2010, Autism Support Ireland by IAA and partners which offers support to families effected by autism. This site makes reference to the wealth of information on the Citizens Information web-site. Both of these excellent web-sites are well worth studying, and we are combining their advice and information with our own perspective in the check-list below.
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Check-List and Quick links to the above sites:
Tax Allowances
And don't overlook the options for claiming tax refunds as well. All medical and health service related costs can be claimed on the MED1 form. Extra tax credits may be claimed, under the heading of "incapacitated child". Revenue's web-site offers good background information on this. Some people claim all receipts relating to special diets, such as GF/CF foods - and some supermarkets can facilitate in providing this receipt information.
There are more complex options including Deeds of Covenant and Trust Funds specifically addressing incapacitated persons which can offer a means of minimising tax. Professional advice should be sought if pursuing these options.
| Revenue's Information | Citizen's Information | Document | Autism Support Info | Notes |
| Tax Credits | Incapacitated Child | Tax Credits Available | ||
| Medical Expenses: Claim for relief | Medical Expenses |  Med 1 | Tax Allowances Info | |
| Dental Expenses: Claim for relief | Dental Expenses | Med 2 | ||
| Relief on contributions to charities | CHY2 | |||
| Deed of Covenant | Deed of Covenant | IT 7 | ||
| Special Trust Funds | Trust Fund | s189A |
The Irish State and some of its other agencies
The above links relate to specific rights, entitlements and services that we have noted. Many other services are provided by the State, and these are the relevant links to some of those which may be of interest:
Note
The usual disclaimer applies to the above links and information. You need to persevere with all claims, making sure that you keep copies and notes of all dealings with officials, and don’t take the first “no” for an answer! But the first thing to do is to make sure that you have your formal ASD Assessment to hand, because copies of it are frequently required to be submitted with particular claims.
The documents above are Adobe PDF files. If you need to download a free reader to enable you to open these files, 
, click here. If you note any errors or omissions, or out-of-date information, we would appreciate your message to us to help us rectify same.