Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism
Autism Policy and Employment: Discussion
Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
I welcome all the witnesses. As the Chair said earlier, we had a very interesting conversation this morning about how we can make students' school environment a more welcoming place for autistic children. It is important we speak about this also in the context of the workplace.
I have a number of questions. I will probably come back in later but I will ask just one or two to start with. The first is for Specialisterne and Mr. Brabazon. I am friendly with Frank Holt in Cork so I have a good idea of what Specialisterne does. Mr. Brabazon mentioned the funding it has. I know that it got Pobal funding recently, and Mr. Brabazon referred to that and mentioned the Rethink Ireland funding. Will he give us the background to that funding? Is it annual? Is it reviewed annually? Is it on an application basis? Does Specialisterne have a more sustainable funding model going forward? Could Mr. Brabazon comment on that briefly first?