Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Collins. It is just me left. I will have to cut it short as we are running tight on time. I thank TUS for the invitation to go to its college in Athlone last January.

It was refreshing to see an organisation looking to meet and looking to see what more it can do. I compliment the witnesses on the work they have done heretofore. When I met them it was not just numbers. I met the entire staff, students' union representatives, the president and the disability service. This shows how seriously they are taking this issue and how they want to progress things going forward.

I was actually in Ballymahon Vocational School yesterday and I met with some of the staff in the special class. I mentioned having been in the college and today's meeting. That is something parents are looking for. They want to see that graph to know their child can progress from primary to secondary and third level. As a parent, that is what I want to see. I want to know that support is there the whole way through and that there are employment opportunities at the end of that. I would like to see that rolled out across all colleges. That is the model in Trinity with regard to the large number of companies that are linked to the college providing job opportunities for youngsters who qualify there. We also need to put funding in place for the administrative back-up support in the college for the students and those companies going forward. That model has worked on a small scale in Trinity. It can work everywhere. I know the will is there, and is definitely there in TUS, to do that. We will forward that report. We will pass a motion at our meeting on Thursday to forward the report to the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. That is what we need. We need increased funding. The witnesses have highlighted that graph, which is going in two directions. The need is going one way and the funding is going the opposite way. That is something we have to address.

With regard to the committee and our plan, it is my view that we need legislation. We need to recommend legislation. We will shortly be visiting Scotland to see the all-party committee that has been set up there following the ten-year strategy that was brought in and then reviewed with changes made to it. We are meeting the well-being minister. There is a changeover of minister at the minute in Scotland. We will be meeting the well-being minister, the all-party committee and Scottish Autism to make sure we do not recommend something that they have already seen has not worked or been best practice.

This is something I and the committee feel very strongly about and has come up numerous times. I am talking about the Disability Act 2005. Everyone seems to be afraid to deal with the reality that people have a legal entitlement to an assessment but are not legally entitled to the back-up service and intervention. That has to change.

I ask the Irish Society for Autism to tell me about the autism alert card. Going forward, what plans does it have as an organisation? In my brief I see there are substantial assets within the Irish Society for Autism. What plans does it have for that? Does it have an action plan going forward? I think there is in the region of €10 million or something like that in assets. What is the plan going forward? Is there a programme of works in the years ahead for that? TUS might comment first and highlight its number one ask. I know there are a number of them but what would it prioritise? What would the other organisations' number one ask or priority be? It is going to be a comprehensive report but I like to ask each organisation what its priority is.