Ms Maria Gleeson-Cary:

On the question of private assessments, we are all awaiting the interim autism assessment strategy from the HSE. It will support private providers in how they structure their assessments so that we have some way of standing over them. I would hope that it will also include the experience and competence of clinicians doing autism assessments and reflect on how to build the experience of clinicians. There are lots of co-occurring conditions in autism and we need to ensure that the support needs of a person and an understanding of the whole person is identified as part of the assessment, that is not just an autism - yes or no - tick-the-box exercise. Ensuring that the autism strategy coming down from the HSE in terms of assessment is comprehensive and supports experience, competence and confidence across the board in autism assessments will support private providers in providing a neuro-affirmative assessment as well.