Dr. Karen McAuley:

On the voice of the children, last year, our office held two events, in Sligo and Limerick, called Beyond Limits, which were dedicated to children with disabilities and their families. In planning that work, we established a youth advisory panel of young people to guide and advise us on what we needed to do ensure the events would be fully inclusive of all disabled children who might attend them. Their advice, not surprisingly, was invaluable in making sure the facilities we used, the spaces we created and everything we did, including the activities available on both days, were inclusive of all children, including autistic children.

Building on that, without wanting to give AsIAm and other organisations further work to do given as they already have enough on their plate, the committee will be aware that other organisations would be arguably much better placed than we are as an organisation, because they have the expertise, to discuss with it how it might, as a committee, engage directly with autistic children. Suffice it to say, if there is any way in which we can help, including by offering our space to help it plan something like that or to hold such a meeting, we would be very happy to do that. We warmly encourage the committee to bring autistic children directly into this conversation and into its important work.