Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important subject that is close to my heart. I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward the Bill. Last October, the Regional Group reintroduced a Bill that had been brought through the Seanad by former Senator James Reilly. It was parked to allow the Government time to put in place the necessary measures.

Autism is not a health issue; it is a human rights issue. It is very important that we look at it in that way. The whole issue of autism is being treated on a haphazard basis. All the frameworks and working groups and so on are beginning to take shape but, as has been repeated here all morning, what is missing is that services are not being provided on the ground to the people who need them. The families are suffering.

The European Commission approved the charter of rights for persons with autism in 1996. That charter states that autistic people should have the same rights as those enjoyed by all EU citizens and these rights should be enforced by legislation. That has yet to happen in Ireland. We need to understand why that is the case. Why has what is required not been put in place? I sit on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters. Witnesses, including family members of autistic people, have appeared before the committee to speak about their experiences. Those families are under awful pressure. I welcome the people in the Public Gallery who are listening to the debate.

It is important to state that we need action on the ground. We need more than talk, strategies and working groups. We need to see the effect of this on the ground. I know that other speakers are passionate about this issue. We have to get to the stage where the money and resources are put where they are needed. It is important that we do not treat autism as though it is a disability. It is actually a gift that some people have and we have to make sure they get every right to enjoy life and have an equal part in society.

People with autism and their families suffered hugely during Covid because they were isolated and in strange environments. What has happened since then? That went on for the past two years. I will take the example of my constituency and that of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. In Loughrea, for instance, there is very little in the way of ASD facilities in any of the national schools in the area. A group representing 100 families in the area is trying to get education facilities for their children. Two weeks ago, I came across a case in my neck of the woods involving a boy who cannot go to the local school with his sister because it does not have an ASD unit. He has to go another school. That is isolation and segregation. All the members of a family should have the right to go to school together.

I do not wish to criticise anybody because this issue has been ongoing since 1969. We have to cut away the crap, as I would call it, and get to the basis of this, which is to support the families that need it. We need to do that now. We can have strategies and everything else one likes and we will waste a lot of money convening all these groups and doing whatever else but the families in the Public Gallery, along with those in my constituency and elsewhere in the country, will not be able to get the support they need. That is what is wrong. It is the creation of this mirage of bureaucracy, red tape and whatever else. A letter I received from Ability West this week highlights that what is going on in the services in general is frightening. We need to cut to the chase, put the money where it is needed and cut out the middleman, the upper man and whatever else and get the money to the families who really need it.

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