Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin and colleagues in the Labour Party for bringing forward this Bill to allow us to debate the incredibly important issue of support for persons with autism in Ireland and their families. I welcome the families who are here in the Dáil to witness this debate. Like Deputy Ó Ríordáin, I share that sense of responsibility both as Minister and as a constituency Deputy. In the two years since I have been elected, time and again I have engaged with families struggling with access to education and therapies, and the potential for their children to go on to further and higher education and gain employment. I am deeply aware of the issues. The provision of support for persons with autism and responding to the particular challenges and barriers they face is a shared priority for me and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, as it is for many of our colleagues across the House who are participating in the debate today.

The Autism Bill 2022 seeks to create a statutory obligation to develop a national autism strategy aimed at addressing certain prescribed matters. The Bill also seeks to provide a statutory definition of autism in amendments to the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act 2000. These are intended to provide for an autism-specific reference in the disability definitions of those Acts. Action on autism is an existing commitment in our programme for Government. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is leading on work to establish a national autism innovation strategy to honour those commitments. I want to be clear this Government is committed to providing targeted and bespoke solutions for neurodiverse people that sit harmoniously in the wider context of disability policy and action.

However, it is the Government's view that legislation is not the most appropriate vehicle for advancing the objectives of the Bill, as primary legislation may not evolve sufficiently quickly to address changing realities and in view of the work already under way to develop a national strategy on autism. The development of a national strategy on autism is something we have already taken steps to deliver. On World Autism Day 2021, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, announced her intention to develop a national autism innovation strategy. An initial budgetary allocation of €100,000 was secured in budget 2022 for the purposes of designing and raising awareness of the strategy. This year, important steps have been taken to get the development process for the strategy under way. In April 2022, to mark autism awareness month, the Minister of State launched a comprehensive public consultation to inform the design of the autism innovation strategy. I am very conscious of Ireland's commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. Therefore, it is critical the autism innovation strategy is co-designed and informed by the lived experiences of people with autism, their families and their representatives. That is the approach we have taken in our consultations to date.

Consultation on the strategy has been conducted in an accessible format, with an easy-to-read version of the consultation document provided. The disability participation and awareness network conducted information sessions for its members on responding to that consultation. There were very positive responses to the process. My Department is working to analyse the submissions received. Furthermore, applications are currently being invited for membership of the oversight and advisory group. That will play a central role in overseeing the implementation and monitoring of the innovation strategy. As a next step, my Department will work across Government to prepare a draft of the strategy. It is anticipated a further public consultation will take place in advance of finalising the strategy.

The autism innovation strategy will have as its immediate focus delivering real and tangible solutions to the challenges, needs and experiences of people with autism and neurodiversity. It will be flexible, agile and capable of evolving in line with best practice and the wider policy context. The strategy offers a real opportunity to complement the existing national disability strategy, the national disability inclusion strategy and the comprehensive employment strategy by addressing the bespoke needs of people with autism. It is the Government's view this strategy, and not the one prescribed by primary legislation, is the most appropriate vehicle for addressing the particular challenges and barriers faced by people with autism and their families. The strategy needs to be given time to develop and to come to fruition.

Introducing primary legislation at this time is not only unnecessary, as we are already taking steps to deliver on the commitments, but it also risks producing unintended and undesirable consequences. We believe it would be less flexible and more difficult to amend than a strategy that is based on a policy framework. If an autism strategy was introduced by statute, there is a concern there would be a risk of enshrining a somewhat piecemeal and hierarchical approach to disability by focusing on particular medical impairments. That is at odds with the social model of the UNCRPD. It is also at odds with our approach in Ireland to date. Both the Disability Act 2005 and the Equal Status Act 2000 seek to respond to the needs of people with disabilities in an holistic manner. These Acts look at the common challenges faced by persons with disabilities while allowing space for specific and bespoke needs to be identified and addressed at a policy level. The Government is also concerned about the proposed definitional changes set out in the Bill, which would introduce changes to the disability ground for discrimination contained in the Equal Status Act to take account for autism.

However, a review of Ireland's equality legislation is under way and this review will include a review of the definition of grounds of discrimination. It is expected that the review will be completed by the end of 2022.

I want to take this opportunity to re-emphasise the Government's commitment to removing barriers for people with autism and their families. It is the Government's firm view that the autism innovation strategy, which is based on a whole-of-government and policy action framework, is the most appropriate structure by which we can take the lead in a more autism-friendly country and better address the needs of persons with autism and the neurodiverse community. This approach would avoid the inflexibility of a legislative approach and any unintended consequences of that.

It is important that we have a debate and flesh out the best approach in this area, which is why the Government is not opposing the Bill today. The Government will continue to advance its autism innovation strategy as the mechanism to deliver those real and tangible solutions for people with autism in Ireland and as a mechanism to deliver on the issues rightfully raised in the Bill. I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this Bill and for giving us the opportunity to have this really important debate.

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