Mr. Adam Harris:

Regarding people fleeing countries other than Ukraine, it comes down to much better education on Article 11. Further to Dr. McDonagh's point, this is not about us doing something that is kind or nice; it is about our obligations as a state party to an international treaty. We spoke about inaccessible accommodation. The reality is that direct provision centres are anything but accessible or inclusive for autistic people. As long as people are staying there, we are deeply failing in that regard.

The Deputy spoke about climate change and preparing for major emergencies more generally. At the core of this is changing our culture and thinking about disability. It was glaringly clear that autistic people and disabled people were not prioritised during the Covid-19 pandemic. That related to schooling as well as vital supports for people being treated as if they were discretionary. We need a standing major emergency response plan that plans for emergencies with a disability lens and not when we are in the middle of an emergency and dealing with it generally that we think about disability briefly. We need to be proactively planning for possible emergencies through a disability lens in advance.

What we can do about adults links with Ms Kelly's point about retraumatising people. We absolutely want to get people to safe harbour. However, when talking to people before they make the journey to Ireland it can be difficult. On the one hand we want to say they will be welcome and that the Irish people are really supportive, but on the other hand we know we have terrible autism and disability services.

This applies in particular to autistic women who may be undiagnosed. Women will often present for diagnosis after a major life event that has raised questions. I imagine that fleeing one's country at a time of war is an example of that. We need to look at how we are training our mental health teams and also public routes to diagnosis. We should be thinking of Ukraine proactively as part of the new autism innovation strategy. We also need to solve the fundamental issues of access to mental health training in order to address this specific issue.