Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all colleagues, from my party and the other parties, for their support, comments and personal stories. I refer to Deputy Eamon Ryan, in particular, for his personal insight. I thank everyone who told their own story. As can be seen, we all know the situation. Everything is a battle. I refer to everything from before getting a diagnosis, to securing school places and occupational therapy all the way through to becoming an adult and trying to transition into adult services where there is a lack of respite and day services. The list is endless and the battle is constant for parents.

Whether the Government decides to support the motion or sit on the fence, we know we have the support of the majority of Deputies in this House. We will call a vote if we have to and we are not giving up on this issue. I appeal to the Ceann Comhairle. We have majority support and we will ask him to set up the all-party committee. I believe that is within the remit of the Ceann Comhairle and we have always found him to be fair and reasonable. We appeal to him to support that as we have the majority. I state that because the committee is needed to develop a strategy. We do not have one and we need one. All these problems are not going to go away. The important thing about the all-party committee is that it will deal directly with people with autism, parents and advocacy groups. All of the people watching from the Public Gallery will have an input. That is crucial.

My colleague mentioned some of the groups earlier but I want to also briefly mention Enough is Enough, particularly Linda and Vanessa, for the work done and their input into the motion. I thank them for the support and advice they give me. I also want to mention one of the first cases I ever dealt with. I will not mention the name, but his parents will know who I am talking about. He is an amazing, fantastic teenager failed repeatedly by this State who has not had the opportunity to finish his education. The responsibility for that lies at the door of the Government. We are not giving up on this issue. I want to make that clear. We are going to keep fighting until we get the committee and that strategy.

Finally, behind the scenes in all of this are staff who worked hard in helping to draft the motion and deal with people like me. I thank Dee, Avril, Kaniah and Michael for all their work on this issue. I again sincerely thank those in the Public Gallery. I reiterate our commitment to them. This is just the start.

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