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

I wish everyone a good morning. It is an absolute pleasure and honour to be here. I was shocked by the line in Carmel's opening statement that said, "someone who cannot speak is regarded as not having intelligence". She followed this by saying: "This is a common perception held by psychologists, speech and other therapists, teachers [and] other professionals." She is actually meeting resistance on this. She also mentioned paying for it herself. It must be a huge cost for people with fund raising and bringing people in from America and so forth.

Carmel went on to say: "Our children with autism deserve better. Assistive technology for each child should be a right, not something parents and schools have to beg for." That really got to me because this is a rights-based issue. It requires resilience. Carmel mentioned that braille was only adopted in schools 66 years after the death of Louis Braille. There might be a bit of evidence. I have done the mathematics and this method started in America 21 years ago in 2021. Surely, therefore, there is some bit of evidence for it.

My evidence is the fact that Carmel and Fiacre are sitting across from me in today. What Fiacre has achieved should be evidence enough. This is absolutely groundbreaking stuff. It always seems that if something is new and people cannot control it, they will try to shut it down. What I am about to say has been quoted many times. The secretariat will have heard me say in other committees over the years that pharmaceuticals do not do cures; they do customers. Everyone knows where I am coming from when I say that.

Deputy Tully earlier mentioned meeting resistance from schools and the Department of Education. What could this committee do to assist Carmel, Fiacre and others out there? I, too, received a beautiful email from another lady during the week. She was so proud. Whether it is cancer, mental health or autism, it always seems that the people who are directly affected are the ones who come together. It is like they have their own little hub. The challenge is trying to get the people outside of that hub to buy into it. "Normalise" would be the wrong word to use; it is to accept the fact. To describe a person as "not having intelligence" is mind-boggling. To be honest, nobody is stupid. Everybody has a gift and a talent. Carmel and Fiacre have come this far. This is my only question. How can we as a committee push things forward, even if it is for funding for families who are directly affected at the moment?

We may be able to find some avenue from a Department. Funnily enough, we were in the Middletown Centre for Autism last week. I do not know whether Ms Ryan has been in contact with them.