Mr. Niall Brunell:

I have a couple of points on data and the census. We are looking at data in the context of the autism innovation strategy. There is all sorts of stuff that we would like more data on in disability generally, but particularly with regard to autism and the increasing rate of incidence. That will absolutely be seen in the strategy.

I agree with the points made earlier on language. I will not go into them because some of them are self-evident. Colleagues speaking after us will have more to say on it.

A couple of points were raised about the equality issue. There was reference to a report from the commission. As I referenced earlier, the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities issued its report in 1996. We had a Commission document saying there should be action specific to autism, but the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities document stating that we cannot splinter the disability sector by looking at impairment-specific cohorts within it. For the information of the committee, the current EU framework on this - Union of Equality - specifically addresses a mainstreaming approach to disability issues in general, including within services from 2021 to 2030. We are looking at evolving thinking in this area. The current legislation poses questions about whether saying that there will be a strategy for this, but not that, engages the broader equality question. There are a number of aspects to that.

I will briefly go back to the question of legislating for rights, which goes back to some of the language in the Bill. I am not certain how much of this has or has not been amended. The provisions in the Bill setting out that the strategy "will make provision for" make no sense from a technical point of view because a strategy cannot provide for anything. The Oireachtas votes for the allocation of resources, which get filtered through. I am not certain if it is really possible to get around the question of government provision as set out in the Constitution by saying that a strategy will force a government to do X, Y or Z. If that is the case, we need to ask whether at the end of this we will wind up with legislation that just says there should be a strategy, when a strategy is already in the process of being produced. The approach we are looking at in terms of the vindication of rights is, as I have said, about recognising there is an issue with bespoke needs for autism, the understanding of autism, and how much autistic people are or are not understood within mainstream service provision and within society more broadly. From the different approaches that can be taken, the current approach being pursued by the Government is to look at how people are better accommodated in the mainstream, based on the idea that a rising tide lifts all boats. Notwithstanding that we are looking at a significant demographic shift in the percentage with people with disabilities who have autism, I stress that we could be sitting here having this conversation about any grouping of impairment. That is a serious consideration.