Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 12 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism

Autism Policy: Discussion

Photo of Micheál CarrigyMicheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everyone to the third public meeting of the Joint Committee on Autism. We have received apologies from Senator Flynn. Before we start business today, I would like to read some formal notices and the Covid-19 code of conduct.

The Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil, Deputy Ó Fearghaíl, and the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Senator Mark Daly, published a Covid-19 code of conduct for the parliamentary community in May 2022. Members, staff and visitors are requested to continue to be vigilant and follow public health advice on preventing the spread of Covid-19 infection so that we can continue to manage risk for ourselves and for others who are more vulnerable, including colleagues and their family members who may be elderly or have underlying health conditions or both. All members of the parliamentary community and visitors are strongly encouraged to wear face masks in busy or crowded locations in the Leinster House complex. Medical grade masks should be worn whenever recommended by the public health advice and should be worn for ten days after diagnosis of Covid-19. This will help to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading among the parliamentary community. I ask for everyone's full co-operation on this.

On privilege, I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, in order to participate in public meetings. I will not permit a member to participate where he or she is not adhering to this constitutional requirement. Therefore, any member who attempts to participate from outside the parliamentary precincts will be asked to leave the meeting.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Deputy Rabbitte, and her officials. On World Autism Awareness Day in 2021, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, announced the Government’s intention to develop an autism innovation strategy in consultation with stakeholders and the public. The committee welcomes the Minister of State’s commitment to making Ireland a more autism-friendly country. We look forward to discussing how this can be achieved with the Minister of State.

We also look forward to our second session this morning when we will hear from Mr. Adam Harris, CEO of AsIAm. AsIAm is Ireland’s national autism charity and we are delighted to welcome Mr. Harris to contribute to today’s discussion on autism policy.

Before we hear from the Minister of State, I propose that we publish her opening statement to the committee’s website. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I suggest that the Minister of State should make her opening statement for approximately ten minutes, after which we will have questions and comments from members. Each member will have roughly four minutes. Members may speak more than once, should we have time at the end. The session will last for an hour and a half.

I now invite the Minister of State to make her opening statement.

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