Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My hope and aspiration for the entire strategy is that persons with autism will have a voice in the context of how their day-to-day living is impacted. It is also important to ensure parents have a voice. I refer to the issues of accessing services, education and housing, as well transitioning from school into higher education, the workforce and everyday life. That is the whole piece. We must listen to the voices of persons with lived experience in respect of where there are barriers or where various Departments may not have not considered this in the round. There are three stages to the strategy. The first step will be a public consultation on its design. The second step will be the establishment of the strategy oversight and advisory group. It will comprise stakeholders and persons with lived experience, who have to be front and centre. The final piece of the strategy will be its going out to public consultation before it is adopted.

See this speech in context