Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Barrett for his question. When I took over this responsibility a year and a half ago, one of the first matters that came to my attention, through a constituent of the Deputy's, was the issue of autism. I took the trouble to raise it directly with the CSO. I went to the CSO office in Cork, just to tease out the issue. The reply I have given is substantially what the specialist compiling the data gave us. Unfortunately, it will not be possible at this stage to change matters because the order for the date of the census has already been set. Issues such as the contract for printing the census forms and so on are in place. I certainly will take on board what the Deputy is saying, however.

To be fair, the various voluntary bodies and statutory agencies that deal with the whole area of disability, particularly autism, were consulted. A pilot questionnaire was issued which contained two versions of the disability question. These were submitted to alternate households during the pilot survey. The analysis from the pilot survey indicated that the best information would be compiled by using version A of the questionnaire. That arises from the way the question on disability was framed, incidentally, in the 2006 census, so there is a development, while admittedly not to everyone's satisfaction, in the type of information being elicited on disability at each stage.

It would not be appropriate nor would there be enough room, the sub-group concluded. I happen to believe the "enough room" reference was somewhat weak. However, it agreed that the existing 2006 category, as regards a learning or intellectual disability, should be split into two. The revised approach to the question of disability was tested successfully in the 2009 pilot survey and the reworded questions, which may be found on the website, include questions as to whether a person has any long-lasting conditions or difficulties such as blindness or serious vision impairment. There is a very long list which includes difficulties doing activities as well as questions on general health, means of travelling from home including the time a person leaves for work, school or college, the time taken for the journey, data about unpaid personal help and so on.

I now have the specific information to hand and category (a) was in relation to blindness and (b) deafness or serious hearing impairment, "yes" or "no". Category (c) refers to a difficulty with basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying and (d) to an intellectual disability. Category (e) refers to a difficulty with learning, remembering or concentrating, (f) a psychological or emotional condition and (g) a difficulty with pain, breathing or any other chronic illness or condition. "If 'Yes' to any of the categories specified in question 14, do you have any difficulty in doing any of the following?: (a) dressing, bathing or getting around inside the home; (b) going outside the home alone to shop or visit a doctor's surgery; (c) working at a job or business, or attending school or college; (d) participating in other activities, for example, leisure or using transport."

Those are the alternatives that were tested in the pilot survey.

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