Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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The witnesses are all very welcome. I will start with what is happening in education. In Ms Soraghan's opening statement, she talked about person-centred personalised supports. Is it a very important aspect of education and work life that individuals have personal assistance that suits them and the challenges they face in life? She also said that disabled persons organisations are underfunded. She has just mentioned multiannual or recurring funding to give certainty to the organisation in its work and its planning as opposed to being given funding for nine or ten months and then having to hold its breath until it gets into the next year's budget. How can we address that? Does Ms Soraghan have any comments on that? What recommendations would she have us, as politicians, make to the Government in respect of multiannual funding to allow for some sort of certainty?

There is another issue I have come across. Perhaps Mr. Harris and Ms Mullock would respond to this. On many occasions, people have come to my constituency office because their children have reached 18 and the transition from children's network services to adult services has left them feeling like they are starting all over again. It is like the door is closed when they leave children's services and they are now looking for the door to get into adult services. In many cases, CAMHS and any other services that are involved refer people to the emergency department at this stage. The department then refers them back to local services or outpatient day services. It is another stress for families. When their children reach 18 years of age, they have to start all over again. Will the witnesses comment on that and tell us what we should be doing in this regard?

In our discussions here, I often think about international best practice for young people who have autism or a disability. It came up in something we were doing the other day. Is there a country we should model ourselves on? Are we a model for every other country? What are the witnesses' opinions on that? I am sure they will have some comments to make in that regard.