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

I thank the witnesses for their answers. I was fortunate enough to sit on the autism committee. A good deal of material came in regarding education and accessing services. That we are having this conversation is great. I suspect that people on the other side of the table sometimes think that, when they appear before a committee, they will get ripped apart and there will be a big competition, but many of these discussions involve us sharing our knowledge and ideas and asking witnesses whether we can assist them in any way.

Unfortunately, I am nowhere near where I would like to be, but that is a work in progress. I acknowledge the comments on the review and I respect Ms Feeney’s remarks about the review starting in 2015, its changes being launched in 2016 and it evolving all the time. That is great, as a review is normally shelved after a year or two and forgotten about. When we then consider the matter again after five or ten years, we see we are miles behind. What Ms Feeney set out was a good sign. However, I do not know where we are going to go. I loved her honesty when she told us to have patience because this is an ongoing process and we had to keep watching it. Please God, we will be able to do so.

I am at a loss trying to find a balance in progressing this situation. I do not like sectioning off cohorts of people, but let us face facts. If one cohort gets X, another will ask why it cannot get the same. We will then run into the same barriers.