Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Many of these questions suggest that it is a matter of curiosity as distinct from developing actual facts in order to develop policy. Whether it is autism or any other form of disability, it is important from the viewpoints of education and health that we should have proper and accurate statistics. The only way to get them is from the census. It is quite absurd that everybody was consulted bar those elected to this House. We are directly involved with various types of illness, including autism. We have to deal with such issues daily, but we cannot develop proper policies without having accurate statistics. Will the Minister of State please make inquiries in this regard? I tabled a similar question a couple of years ago, so I gave plenty of notice. I am not doing this from curiosity, but because I was asked to do so by people who are dealing with autistic children. They feel it is necessary to get accurate statistics to develop a proper framework in which to provide services for such children and in other areas also.

Another question refers to "anybody with an intellectual disability" and adds "if so, please state the type". It should then ask whether the person is satisfied that there are adequate education facilities. Those are the sort of questions that should be posed. The most serious issue of all is the lack of speech therapy for young children who are left with a disability as a result of not receiving such services early on. I ask the Minister of State to re-examine this matter. As public representatives we are depending on him to make our case to those involved in this issue. Ultimately, it is the Minister of State's responsibility to say whether this goes in or stays out. That is what governments are for and the Minister of State is in a positive position to be able to do something about it.

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