Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a few comments and questions. As Ms Campbell probably knows, Scotland was way ahead of Ireland with regard to a national autism strategy. Scotland has learned from issues of concern that came up from that strategy and is now moving forward with positive changes. We as a committee have been looking at some of the work that Scotland is doing and that is why we wanted an opportunity to meet with Ms Kinross and Ms Campbell and discuss it. We see a lot of very positive policies being implemented there.

I have a couple of questions. Maybe they would expand on the idea of the role of the commissioner and where that would sit as a position, and how the all-party group that is currently sitting works. Ms Campbell mentioned local authorities. They have a different system there than we have here where. Although we were looking to make changes with our Healthy Ireland programme based on the staff within the local authority, the local authority would not have as strong an involvement here as they have in Scotland. How is that working? Is it working in a positive way?

We only discussed the assessment of needs issue, long waiting lists and the lack of professional staff at our previous session this morning. Where is Scotland nationally with regards to those lists and, indeed, what number of qualified professionals are there to work within the health system?

The way people use language is important. In addition, the autism spectrum is so wide that there are some children who are non-verbal or minimum verbal. Some organisations feel the word "severe" autism should be used. In America, in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, that term is used for those who need 24-hour care, etc. What is Ms Campbell's view on that? What language is used in policy in Scotland?