Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A lot has been covered. I thank both groups for what they do. It is fairly substantial and we can be critical of services a lot of the time but I am well aware of what St. Joseph's Foundation does and it is amazing work. We keep saying, as politicians, that a lot of these services should be based on needs and not on means, and when there is no charge for a service, it lifts a weight from family members. Even listening to the witnesses, I can see it is personal to them and they have a massive stake in it. The fact is they get back fourfold what they give and it is priceless. I was surprised by Ms Geraghty's story about the assistance dogs because I was at a fundraiser for one in Midleton a number of weeks ago so I was aware of the cost. We are supposed to read the budget submissions when they come in, but when the budget comes out, half a million is pennies in the modern day. If it is €12,000 per dog, there would not be a lot of change from €12,000 if a child or an adult were in a hospital bed for 12 months. There is the cost benefit as well as the actual benefit, which Ms Carr referred to about her own son and how he has changed. It is a case of how we can strengthen that. I hear what the witnesses said about awareness and I have seen a little more of the awareness on the issue, but the witnesses are dead right that the first instinct is to pat the dog because you feel safe. I was disgusted to hear how people can be treated on public transport or in a public space. When I was elected to the House in 2016, one of the first Bills I produced was a dog licence exemption Bill. It sounds very small but it was to deal with the fact that if someone had a guide dog, he or she did not pay the dog licence, but if someone had an assistance dog, he or she had to. I argued that was discriminatory and that these are not luxuries but necessities.

It is good that the witnesses have highlighted the suicide numbers, and that it is a critical point here. Recruitment and retention have been covered. I have tabled a parliamentary question on recognition to the Minister on behalf of Ms Geraghty, so we will wait for the surprise on that. We rarely hear about suicide numbers at the Joint Committee on Autism or even at a disability committee. If someone at the level 3 stage on the autism spectrum is not getting all the services, he or she will feel very isolated. When someone feels isolated, of course his or her anxiety levels will go up. That person will feel trapped and a knock-on effect is, and my wife always says not to use the line, that where there is an action, there is an instant reaction. It has an automatic effect on family members. It is the case, one would say and I always say, that in the mental health area, and it should be the same with autism or any kind of disability, sometimes a problem shared is not a problem halved but is in fact a problem doubled, because as human beings we are reactive, and if parents cannot automatically or immediately sort out the anxiety or trouble, it affects them as well and their child will see that.

This committee is very non-political and most of us here have a stake in it one way or the other, but if we can assist in any way we will. Fair play to witnesses for attending and highlighting the issues, telling their stories and being frank about it. I see their frustration. They have our email addresses and we work collectively. I have been taken aback today because a lot of this is a very good news story, no matter how difficult. People have to get to the stage where they can access the service, but once they can access it, there are two models of consistency. We have the proof it is working and I cannot understand why we cannot push that and replicate it throughout the country. If something is working, pilot it somewhere else and do the same thing over again. The problem we have is we put the same ingredients into the same pot and get the same mouldy cake, and we scratch our heads wondering why it is not different. If we keep doing the same thing over and over, it will not change, but if there is a right model, it should be replicated. It has been a pleasure to listen to the witnesses and it has been enlightening but also exciting. I certainly will help in any way I can.