Mr. Jim Lennon:

I thank the Chair, Deputies and Senators for the invitation to attend. The centre’s current service profile, the quantum of services offered and the resource allocation to support this was determined in 2012 following a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council at which the council announced that there would be "a limited expansion of services delivered by the centre and the focus on ensuring a sustainable future". The quantum of services agreed reflected ministerial priorities for each jurisdiction. In Northern Ireland, the priority was to support children with complex autism through the provision of a learning support and assessment, LSA, referral service, working with up to 66 children per year, whereas in Ireland the focus remained on the provision of a specialist training service, with a particular focus on parental training and with a pilot of 12 children per year to receive a referral for intensive LSA support. An advice and guidance service was agreed with an emphasis on the provision of specialist resources and information for the autism community, parents and education professionals.

The centre has identified three core groups of service users for whom it develops and offers services. The first of these is autistic children and young people. The centre’s focus with this group is to assist children and young people who are referred to the centre to maximise the benefit from their current educational placement. The second group comprises parents and guardians of autistic children and young people. The centre’s primary focus with parents is to deliver a second tier autism support to parents in Northern Ireland and in Ireland to deliver core training to parents. The third group comprises professionals and policymakers working in the autism sector, mainly those based in the education sector but including some health professionals who are school based or who provide educational services. The centre delivers second level specialist support services to front-line professionals who work in education with autistic children and young people.

I will now hand over to my two colleagues, Ms McCanney, and Dr. McCafferty, to go through the details of the services we offer.