Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms McSherry and Dr. Crawford for their contributions to the committee. I know they were listening to some of the earlier session, at least. One thing common to all of those who have presented here is the amount of knowledge they have acquired out of necessity because the services and supports to support their children were not there. I commend them on the work they have done. The amount of information they have given us is immense. Do either of our guests see a solution to what is happening at the moment? The parents outlined the very limited supports through the CDNTs and a lack of appropriate class places for their children at preschool, primary and secondary school. They did not go further afield but there is a problem after post-primary. That is a cliff edge for many parents who say there is almost nothing there for autistic people at that point. Dr. Crawford said it should be based in education. We need to expand on that. As she said, there is no joined-up thinking within the HSE. Somebody needs to grasp this and address the problems because as everybody says, early intervention is key and many of these children are not getting any interventions at an early stage or a later stage. I know that parents are so worried for the future for their children. Do Ms McSherry or Dr. Crawford have further ideas on how to expand what they are doing and the awareness they are creating? It needs to be expanded across the country into every field because we see employers not willing to employ autistic people. It is a lack of awareness or education about what autism is and what supports someone in their employ needs, for example. I am interested in any further thoughts or anything that we as a committee should propose in our report specifically around expanding knowledge and awareness of autism.