Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The autism prevalence rates will be of interest to everybody. There has been a significant increase in the number of young people diagnosed with autism in Ireland. A Department of Health report in 2018 suggested that the autism prevalence rate was approximately 1.8% of the population. It is evident that figure is now outdated. Using the best information available, the Department of Education uses a prevalence rate of 3.2% for forward planning purposes. This increase is very significant and mirrors what is happening internationally.

It is worth saying that in general, many people can be neurodiverse but they will not need specialist support. Where they do need it, we have 15,000 special education teachers in mainstream classes who work with children with a broad range of additional needs. We also have 21,000 SNAs. Where children require specialist support, we have 3,000 special classes.

We are constantly looking at the evidence and engaged in forward planning. That is the role of the NCSE, with the Department. The Department of Health also has role in relation to prevalence figures.

The Senator asked about the support of my colleagues. I assure him that at Cabinet committee meetings, of which we have had a number to date, we work tirelessly to make sure we are planning ahead and addressing needs around assessments of need and therapies in the community. My colleagues, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, are working very hard on that, as is the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman. From my perspective, I am dealing with therapies and supports, which relates to what the Senator was talking about. Every child has a right to an education. At the moment, we sometimes find that issues arise when children come into junior or senior infants in the school setting, or where they have arisen beforehand they are being dealt with in the school system. That is why I was really strong about ensuring those 39 therapists for which the NCSE was allocated funding were employed. The reason they were not employed is that they were not on a permanent contract. We have got that secured now so we will have 44 therapists.

To repeat what I said earlier, in case the Senator missed it, 19 speech and language therapists-----