Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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I apologise for having had to step out but I will look back at the video clip at the discussions over the past hour while I was away. One word comes up all the time and that is inclusion. This is not just inclusion in education but in society in general and across all aspects of it. That is something we have to strive for.

In relation to the Disability Act, I think it was Dr. Muldoon who mentioned the need for an independent review, which is something I totally concur with.

There is a situation where there is a legal entitlement to an assessment of need but no legal entitlement to the support services that are needed. High Court cases are taken weekly. The Chief Justice recently commented on the number of them. Mr. Deering mentioned that a limited number of people are complaining to the Ombudsman and that people are going straight to the High Court. Will the witnesses follow up on that? If I, as a parent, contacted their office about not getting an assessment of need, what would the procedure be? Have there been successful outcomes for some people who have made those appeals? That has to be core to what we do as a committee. I feel we need to propose a review of that Act and that has to change, otherwise more and more children will not get the support services they need and are entitled to.

The witnesses mentioned moving away from segregated autism classes. In their view, is there a need to have special classes? A significant number have been opened over the last years, particularly in a large number of primary schools. Do they feel that we should continue that way, with a special class that would allow children to step back from mainstream into that special class if they become overwhelmed or are not doing certain subjects, or do they want to see us move to a situation where all children are in mainstream classes, maybe with extra SNA support?

We met Scottish Autism at the AsIAm conference last week. It is coming off the back of having a strategy that did not work and it is now trying to find the right way to move forward. One point that was made to me is that it is looking at having an actual commissioner for autistic persons within the equivalent to the Ombudsman for Children's Office there. What are the witnesses' views on that?