Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 7 March 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism

Services and Supports Provided by the State for Autistic People: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Dharragh Hunt:

At the moment, there is a programme of work around building capacity in with the relevant professionals, such as architects, engineers and managers of early learning settings. The long-term ambition, as the Department has indicated, is that there will be capital funding for early learning settings going forward. They will stitch design guidance into that. In future, if one applies for a grant to build or upgrade an early learning centre, it will be tied in with that and it will have to be a universal design. That is where the work is going.