Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Murphy O'Mahony has said, Fianna Fáil will support this excellent motion. I hope it is supported unanimously by the House and certainly by the Government. I acknowledge that Deputies Funchion and Ó Caoláin, who tabled the motion, have taken a lead on this issue.

The Minister of State may be aware that a few weeks ago, Senator Reilly told the Seanad that "A year in the life of any child is critical, but a year in the life of a child with autism is even more so because it is difficult to catch up on the missed opportunities." I believe he said this because he is very angry with the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Government as a whole. Senator Reilly explained that legislation relating to a national autism strategy, which was passed by the Seanad, "now lies dormant". I remind the House that in the words of Senator Reilly, "the early interventions that [children] should be having, which they are not having, will impact on them much later in life". Tonight we have an opportunity to begin to right that wrong by making sure this country has sufficient numbers of doctors, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and the many other professional support people who are needed. Tonight we have a chance to make sure there are enough special needs assistants and that places in ASD units do not suddenly disappear when a child goes from primary school to secondary school. Tonight we can say we support teachers in their work with pupils with autism.

Earlier this evening, I had the great privilege of meeting a young man called Aidan and his autism assistance dog called Gandi. This has been a life-changing intervention for Aidan and his mum.

Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland deserves great credit. There is much we can do, but, for some reason, the Government is not. Many good organisations are working to help people and their families living with autism.

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