Mark Wall (Labour)
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I welcome everyone, particularly Ms Geraghty and Ms Carr. I also welcome Gandhi; it is great to see him here. It just shows what is involved, when we actually see a real-life assistance dog. They are all very welcome.

I have a couple of questions. Deputy Tully touched on assistance and companion dogs. What is the difference between an assistance and companion dog? Is the latter just an untrained dog? I ask Ms Geraghty to go into some detail on that, if she can. As a dog lover, I know the benefit of having a dog. I have always had a dog and continue to have one. I have another question on dog breeds. These dogs seem to mainly be golden retrievers, as Gandhi appears to be, or Labradors. Is it just that type of dog that is used for assistance? It goes without saying, from my point of view and that of my party, we totally support the figure that Ms Geraghty put forward and, as has been said by colleagues, if more is needed it should be given. A large percentage of us are dog lovers, we know the benefits of owning dogs and we know how good they are as companions. I ask her to answer those questions in the first instance.

I also welcome Dr. Coughlan, Mr. Hegarty and Mr. Doyle. As I come from County Kildare, I am very familiar with horses. We have so many of them in the county. I am also familiar with a number of local groups, one of which will appear before the committee in approximately an hour's time, whose members have benefited from horse therapy. A number of local stables in County Kildare provide that service and, from visiting some of them, I have seen the benefit of it. I attended one or two sessions with those groups just to look at that benefit. My questions relate to the benefits the Liskennett centre sees when families come to avail of its service. This is something I also want to tease out later on. The centre's representatives mentioned the whole family coming. Is it an important part of the equine therapy St. Joseph's Foundation offers that the whole family gets involved? I do not want to use the word "isolating" in respect of the autistic person but the centre is bringing in the whole family to make sure everybody is getting the same experience. I ask for comment on that.

I have a further question for Dr. Coughlan and possibly Mr. Hegarty. Suicide and rates of suicide were mentioned. As far as I am aware, it is not a conversation we have had at this committee. I ask Dr. Coughlan to touch on that again because it is an important conversation for the committee to have. He also mentioned that, unfortunately, the figures and data for Ireland, and the research, are not as good as they should be. I also ask for comment on that.

As a finishing touch, I note from the presentation that the adult autistic person was mentioned. One issue we have touched on is how people can obtain jobs. I have read some of what Mr. Hegarty submitted. How does St. Joseph's Foundation help people to obtain jobs? It is so important for the autistic people I meet that they get out there and actually have a job in order to lead a normal life and existence. I ask Mr. Hegarty to touch on that.