Micheál Carrigy (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I apologise for being late but I logged in for the opening statement. I welcome the Minister of State. I have a few specific points. The Minister of State mentioned in her opening statement that we will have the national disability strategy in the near future. Could she be more definitive on when it will be published?

The Minister of State and I met only recently on the autism innovation strategy. She met the all-party group, which I continue to chair. I have a copy of our report and the 12-month review we conducted on the 109 recommendations. It is on our agenda at this committee to conduct a 24-month review, hopefully over the recess, and publish it in the autumn to ensure as many of the recommendations as possible, if not all, are legislated for. The number one recommendation in the report, a cross-party report, was to legislate for an autism innovation strategy. The former Government published the latter in August 2023 but it is due to expire next February. It was time-limited for 18 months. There is a commitment in this regard in the programme for Government and we will see where we are with regard to legislation on the strategy. There is legislation at Second Stage in the Seanad that would give effect to the strategy. What is the Department's current position on this?

The Minister of State has engaged extensively across the sector since taking up her role and I compliment her for that. From that engagement, what are the top three issues we need to deal with? I am a parent of a young autistic son and have been in the system. I hear anecdotally from parents that many children are now being moved from CDNT to primary care if their needs are lesser, but are the staffing levels matched in primary care? From what I hear on the ground, the answer is "No". We are understaffed at CDNT level and moving kids into primary care, which is completely understaffed and unable to deal with the numbers. The Minister of State might make a few comments on that. I apologise for asking so many questions in one go.