The mother of a 28-year-old man with autism has hit out at the HSE for failing to provide him with the help he needs.

Geraldine Mahon, 65, says she has seen a serious deterioration in her son James’s behaviour in recent months - which resulted in him her giving her a black eye.

The Longford woman told RSVP Live that she believes her son, who is non verbal, is acting out because he no longer wants to live in their family home.

Instead James wants to move to a residential care facility, where he currently stays part time.

The HSE first promised him a place 18 months ago but now they say there’s not enough funding.

“We’re fighting with the HSE - instead of going forwards we seem to be going backwards,” the mother of five said.

“This accommodation is idle now and we have done everything the HSE have asked us to do.

“We’ve explored all medical possibilities for James’s change in behaviour, we even got an MRI scan.”

Geraldine said that psychiatric services have recommended putting James on a sedative, but staff who have been working closely with him disagree.

“He doesn’t need a sedative, he needs continuity of care,” she went on.

“He needs a stable environment - how would you feel if every Monday you had to move to a different place?

“It must be driving him bananas.”

Geraldine said her son is not violent, but lashing out because he feels frustrated.

“We realised we really needed this when James gave me a black eye,” she explained.

“My husband and my children don’t me alone in a room with him at this stage.

“It’s not his fault - James is basically a very happy young person but he gets frustrated and annoyed, and internalises it.

“He’s non verbal so he can’t tell people what’s wrong with him, this is how he’s communicating it.”

Geraldine says that taking care of James is getting more and more difficult as she and her husband get older.

“We’re not as young as we used to be and I don’t know how much longer we’re going to be able to do this for, that’s the sad part,” she said.

“My husband has COPD and I have scoliosis and arthritis.

“I’m a soft target because I’m his mum, I’m only 4”10 and he towers over me.

She added: “I don’t want to demonise him because he’s such a lovely young man and needs this so badly.”

“The longer the HSE delay on this the worse things are going to get for James. Something needs to happen now.”