Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share my time with Deputy McLellan.

I welcome and support this Bill and thank Deputy McCarthy for bringing it forward. The Bill is commendable in its purpose to provide for an autism strategy and to put in place a national framework for addressing the specific needs of adults with autism, a framework which needs to be coherent and dovetail with provisions for children with autism.

One of the earliest issues brought forward by the Sinn Féin group in the 2002-07 Dáil, as a Private Members' motion, was on education for children with special needs. In that, we included a call for the full implementation of the recommendations of the report on educational provision and support for persons with autism spectrum disorders and the report of the task force on autism of 2001. While some progress has been made, the provision for the education of children with special needs, including those with autism, still falls very far short of what is required. That said, the focus of this Bill is adults with autism but they all start out as children. The Bill proposes important amendments designed to include autism in the definition of disability in the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act 1998.

In this regard, it is interesting to look back on a case decided on by the Equality Authority in 2007. It is very instructive in terms of attitudes to autism and the need for legislation, such as this Bill. In May 2007, the mother of a child with autism, who was a tenant of a local authority, was awarded the maximum compensation payable under the Equal Status Acts 2000 and 2004 in a disability discrimination claim. The claim was brought in respect of the mother's application under the disabled person's alteration scheme for an extension to provide additional required space for her son who has autism. The claimant was represented by the Equality Authority in taking the case against the local authority under the Equal Status Acts.

An equality officer of the Equality Tribunal ordered the local authority to proceed immediately either to build a suitable extension or rehouse the family in suitable alternative accommodation in the same locality. The local authority was ordered to pay €6,350 in compensation. The equality officer stated that she would have ordered a higher amount of compensation but she was constrained by the legislation in the amount she could order. The local authority was also ordered to draw up a formal written policy in regard to the disabled person's alteration scheme to include applicants' precise requirements, detailed guidelines and an appeal mechanism.

Mr. Niall Crowley, chief executive officer of the Equality Authority, said the ruling had major implications not just for people with autism and the disabled person's alteration scheme, but also for the mechanisms, policies and criteria used by local authorities and other decision-makers for the processing of applications made by people with disabilities and others.

The equality officer said the autistic child's specific circumstances and needs were not properly considered by the local authority, and it is not only the person's needs as a child but his or her needs as he or she progresses through life, as we all hope to do in our respective lifetimes. Staff processing the mother's application were not qualified in any respect to reach a number of stated conclusions in regard to the son's disability and they did not seek the expertise of a person suitably qualified to assist the nature of the child's disability. Recommendations of a number of qualified external professionals in favour of the complainant's application were also ignored. The staff of the local authority compared the disability of the claimant's son less favourably with physical disabilities. That is an issue which needs to be highlighted. As the young boy was autistic and registered on the autistic spectrum disorder scale and did not have a physical disability, the local authority staff viewed his needs differently, which is unacceptable. The fundamental reason for the mother's application was simply not taken on board.

Mr. Niall Crowley said that the case highlighted barriers to progress for equality. The local authority was not adequately aware of the provisions of the Equal Status Acts, something we hope this Bill will strengthen, and was found to fundamentally misinterpret the key provision on the requirement to provide special treatment or facilities for people with disabilities. He said the absence of clear and transparent policies created a context where discrimination can all too easily occur. I do not expect the Minister will be able to shed any light on it today but maybe he or Deputy McCarthy might like to see if lessons have been learned by the State and what actions have followed that case. I acknowledge I have not had the time to research that in preparing to participate in the debate on this Bill.

Sections 1 and 2 of this Bill seek to put the position of autism in the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act beyond doubt and the case I just highlighted gives us an even greater reason to support this proposed legislation. It absolutely needs to be beyond doubt. Section 3 seeks an autism strategy and sets out what such a strategy should provide for, which we strongly support and urge the Government to take it on board.

This Bill comes before the House in the context of disgraceful Government cuts, even recently, to services for people with disabilities. I note that last summer Irish Autism Action joined with other groups in advocating for the rights of people with disabilities to mount a joint campaign on cuts to disability services. The immediate focus of the Irish Autism Action campaign was to highlight the lack of full-time services for school leavers. Some 650 18 year olds with intellectual disability, including autism, left mainstream and special schools last summer and by September of last year, many of them were without a service or received only a partial service in their young adult lives. All such school leavers need to get appropriate services and supports. That is their right.

Irish Autism Action points out that year-on-year, school leavers are left in this situation with no further education places. This has profound implications for the ability of young adults with autism to fulfil their potential and to lead fulfilling lives and to give to give their very worried parent or parents a great sense of the security of their futures.

This Bill is clearly designed to help rectify the problem. We need to continue to work together on this to realise our objective.

Deputy McCarthy, in his opening address, referred to circumstances north of the Border. I commend the addressing of autism by our counterparts, of all political opinions, in the Assembly in Stormont. This is an all-Ireland issue.

While the Minister will not have the information I require immediately to hand, he should note the case of the Middletown Centre for Autism, a centre for excellence. It is in County Armagh, a stone's throw from my home. The project was a state-of-the-art flagship project in the early years following the Good Friday Agreement, yet a former Administration, in the early stages of our difficult financial circumstances, withdrew funding from this side of the Border to that essential development. Governments tend to hit the most vulnerable first. The centre in Middletown has a significant role to play and I urge the Minister to revisit our relationship with our colleagues north of the Border in respect of the delivery of key services. The centre in Middletown is but one example. Perhaps the North-South Inter-Parliamentary Association might bear that in mind and pay some attention to it at some point in the future.

I cannot conclude without mentioning a young autistic man in my home town, Monaghan, who will be 18 on 30 March. His mother is experiencing very understandable anxiety as he faces the first days of young adulthood because he had a late diagnosis of autism and has had scant educational health supports. He faces a most uncertain future. I wish Aaron a very happy birthday. I appeal to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, who responded to my Topical Issue matter on Aaron's case only a fortnight ago. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting the matter. I urge the Minister for Health to examine the details of the exchange. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, undertook to speak personally to the Minister for Health on the case, which case exemplifies so many of the circumstances that apply all over the country.

Let us light the place up blue, as we have been requested to do as a signal of our absolute commitment, on International Autism Awareness Day.

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