Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I thank the joint committee for the invitation to appear before it. I congratulate it on the huge amount of work it has done since it was set up. It is a huge asset to have that work being done.

As members of the committee will be aware, the Ombudsman for Children's Office is an independent statutory body which was set up in 2004 under the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002. We have two core statutory functions: to promote the rights and welfare of children up to 18 years of age, and to examine and investigate complaints made by or on behalf of children about the administrative actions of public bodies, schools and voluntary hospitals that have, or may have, adversely affected a child.

The office has undertaken dedicated work relating to the issues highlighted in our submission, including the following reports: Unmet Needs, which highlighted the challenges faced by children in Ireland who require an assessment of their needs; Plan for Places, a report which demonstrated the limitations in the system for forward planning around the provision of school places for children with special educational needs; and Mind the Gap, which is research we commissioned that explores key barriers to the realisation of the rights of children with disabilities in Ireland.

In our submission to the committee on 7 November 2022, we highlighted a number of concerns we have about policy and services for autistic children. These include the substantial costs families can incur in meeting the needs of their children, including delayed assessments and interventions when these are not met by the State; a range of issues relating to assessments of need; communications and complaints handling by children's disability network teams; whether family support plans are meaningful and targeted; the need for review of the Disability Act 2005; forward planning for the provision of school places for children with special educational needs; delays in moving towards a system of inclusive education; and a lack of opportunities for autistic children to share their views on the matters that affect and concern them.

Today I wish to highlight three of those matters in particular. They are inclusive education; ongoing delays as regards autistic children being able to access assessments and supports; and the views of autistic children being taken into account in the design of policies and services.

The committee will be aware of the constructive dialogue conducted on 24 and 25 January 2023 between the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC, and representatives of the Irish State. I wish to draw the committee's attention to a number of comments made by the CRC that are relevant to the rights of autistic children.

First, the CRC drew attention to the lack of clear planning for a system of inclusive education in Ireland. We understand from the Irish State's response to these concerns that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, policy advice on inclusive education has been received by the Department of Education and that that is due to be published in due course. While there has been significant growth in the number of children with special educational needs attending mainstream schools, for autistic students much of that growth has been in segregated autism classes, which is not in line with the principle of inclusive education. It is my hope that the NCSE's policy advice will be published soon and that that advice, together with the outcome of the review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act 2004, which is currently under way, will help to chart a way forward for implementing an inclusive education system.

The CRC also drew attention to the progressing disability services programme and raised concerns about the long waits many children are experiencing before being able to access services. I welcome this committee's focus to date on autistic children being able to access support services in a timely manner. I hope that that scrutiny will continue as the road map on progressing disability services is brought forward.

As members of the committee will be fully aware, waiting lists for assessments of need remain a significant issue. I would welcome continued scrutiny by the committee of this area, including the interim guidance on the provision of assessments of need, AONs, when that is published. In our report Unmet Needs we recommended a range of measures to be taken to address challenges arising with respect to the assessment of need. We continue to receive contact from families expressing concerns about AON. More generally, I understand from recent figures released by the HSE that over 4,000 assessment of need applications were overdue for completion at the end of December 2022.

Finally, since making our submission to the committee in November, results of the national survey on well-being and social inclusion arising from the midpoint review of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 have been published by the National Disability Authority. We understand that the results of that survey will be used to inform the successor strategy. As the survey was extended only to people aged 18 and over, we would welcome attention given by the committee to providing for consideration to be given to the views of autistic children in the design of key policies and strategies affecting them, including that successor to the national disability inclusion strategy.

I thank the committee again for the invitation to meet with it today. My colleagues, Dr. Karen McAuley and Ms Áine Jackson, and I are happy to take questions.