Ms Aoife O'Malley:

Deputy O'Connell made a comment about parents who come from difficult social circumstances, the huge discrepancies in the wealth of parents, and access to private services and so on. Parents also come in who are extremely stressed and anxious. Perhaps they have not slept in a long time because they have a child with such needs. I reiterate that there are huge issues for parents. Parents sometimes have their own learning needs, which must be accommodated. The 90-minute assessment will just not meet those needs at all.

The evidence base we use for the diagnosis of autism, for example, is the assessment of a multidisciplinary team. That does not mean two professionals, but a full multidisciplinary team. The preliminary screening could be considered a national screening programme, as was mentioned by Deputy O'Reilly. That is what the SOP is perhaps trying to do, but it is not enough. Is it happening on the ground? The AOTI position's is that it is a breach of our code of ethics and that of CORU. I am not entirely sure whether it is happening nationally but it is a breach of our code of ethics.