Mr. Bernard O'Regan:

My understanding is there is not a specific piece of work to develop a specific set of standards for the autistic community. Currently, I think there are something in the region of 11 sets of standards that HIQA has published, and they are subject to ongoing review. In my view, the importance of developing all those standards is that they should consider the whole population, that is, in their design they should reflect the needs of the autistic community, people with Down's syndrome, people with mental health needs or whatever else it might be rather than a specific set of standards for each type of disability or each particular care group. My understanding is that is the kind of approach HIQA would take in the development of standards.