Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise if I look ignorant for leaving straight after this. I was meant to be somewhere 15 minutes ago but that is the story of my life. It is not shocking, but it is frightening when we talk about access to care and lifelong impact for autistic people. The detrimental impact of waiting to get regular healthcare has been laid out. It almost fits into the idea of universal design, but it is like universal societal design. We have seen improvements from employers and ourselves, that accommodations need to be made so buildings, environments and society are more liveable for autistic people and others. There are huge difficulties in relation to universal design. We have known for years, that it would make a hell of a lot more sense if our buildings were to be designed in a particular way to make access easier for people in wheelchairs or those who need other supports. However, developers will talk about the added cost and about how people will not want to take that on. There is a wider issue in that. The trajectory is fine. For early learning settings through to third level, in particular, where we have no choice, we need to make sure we make it easier and better facilitate people. Otherwise, we are cutting them off from a very early stage.

Everyone seems to be in agreement that legislation needs to be updated. There needs to be that sort of leverage and enforced accountability. However, we need something better than what happens with assessments of need, AONs. None of this will matter if that resourcing is not in place. This is my single transferable speech in relation to services, particularly for children. We had the Association of Occupational Therapists of Ireland, AOTI, the Psychological Society of Ireland, PSI and the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists, IASLT, before the committee. I think I got most of those right. They told us there is an acceptance that even if we do everything right from now on, there will not be enough speech and language therapists, SLTs, occupational therapists, OTs, psychologists or whatever other services are needed. They say they would need to be involved in the conversation if we are talking about health. It means involving all the relevant parts of the HSE. If we get the workforce planning piece right, and the recruitment piece as right as it can be, while accepting that it will be imperfect, we can at least put a shape and structure on it. That probably means a review of everything from assessment to interventions. Everybody needs something different for that whole gambit. School is a huge part, and some of it is obvious. Services are brought to where people are. That is before we get into adult services. While we do not have enough special needs assistants, SNAs, or others, we know what we need or at least what we would like.

If we are talking about adults I know there is a specific issue at the moment with personal assistants in further education colleges. This is the case with Drogheda Institute of Further Education, DIFE, and the Ó Fiach Institute of Further Education in Drogheda and Dundalk, respectively. They have contracts, which are not fit for purpose. It is an issue on which I am over and back with the Minister. I hope it is moving in the right direction. To a degree, they provide supports to those who need added supports within third level, specifically in further education. They fell between the cracks. It is not something we addressed. If we were dealing with younger kids, it is something that at least would have been partially addressed. We would know what we want. That shows something, and it is an issue that needs sorting. My next point has already been mentioned with regard to adult employment. We had the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities, and others, before the committee to speak specifically about third-level and so on, as well as about engaging with employers. These employers were probably scared of their lives to take this on through fear of doing harm or not doing the right thing. Once again, engagement is absolutely necessary. It is a win-win for employers that cannot get people. It is win-win for autistic people or whoever else. It is an absolute win for their families. It is facilitating that. However, that means engaging all of the State services. That means talking directly about those involved in similar work in the context of social protection. I will not get into the ins and outs of third party operators. I think that is for another day, whether we are talking about the local enterprise offices and even the education and training boards, ETBs. Often people are in here from the State who say it is very interesting. However, at a macro level, business needs to be done. I think I have covered everything and I did not get into the row with Dr. Mary Doherty. I am aware of autism on the basis of my son. However, even before that I am a lot more aware of people who fall into that bracket than I would previously have been. I know a considerable number of people who consider that numbers have increased. I am, therefore, very interested in what was said earlier and would like her to add to it. However, the main point is that we are dealing with this reality in one way or another. We need to offer the services required and make this society a better place. We talk about early interventions, but we do not introduce early interventions.

That is a gambit going from cradle to grave.