Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I too want to thank Senator Carrigy for his work and indeed Deputy Buckley. Senator Carrigy is welcome to the House. It is fitting that he is here on such an important subject. I have gone through the report. There is some really good stuff in it and I commend the work of the committee. I thank all the parents from Mayo who contacted me to say how important it was that I be here this evening and that the report be implemented. There are massive expectations around what it is going to mean for them and their children and, rightly said, for siblings of autistic children as well. That is what we are all here for.

While I am here, I want to mention the great work of Mayo Autism Camp, not least because I am missing a really important event they had today in launching their autism resource fair, which is taking place on 1 March in the McWilliam Park Hotel. They do really good work, both Colette and Elisha from Mayo Autism Camp. The Minister of State might have met them last week when she was in Mayo.

I welcome that she was in Mayo and I know she met many of the parents and children to whom this report and the full implementation of it will mean an awful lot. I know too the Minister of State met Robbie, the 13-year-old boy who has been without education for many months. These cases help to remind us of the human beings who are behind this, be they the young people, the children or the parents, and it reminds us of why we need to make it work.

I noted that the report looked at the Maltese model and what they do in summer provision there. In Malta, eight weeks is provided and the report detailed how the programme is provided. Elaine Jenkins of the special needs school classes highlighted this programme, which is an interesting one, but we are a wealthy country so there should be no reason whatsoever we could not provide for our children what is provided for children in Malta. The most notable thing about that example is that it is equitable. Every child gets the summer programme for eight weeks and that is what we should be aiming for here, for all the reasons that are outlined in this report and that others spoke about.

I commend and recommend to the Ministers of State the work of Amanda McGuinness. Many of those here will have heard of her. She was diagnosed as autistic when she was 39, she has three autistic children and she does wonderful work. There is a good YouTube video where she explains her story and she is good at helping us all to understand better the needs of autistic people and autistic young people. I commend her work. She is a fantastic woman and she has done a lot to help us to understand better.

We are speaking about summer provision and the number of parents who are forced each year to take up private therapeutic interventions and access private care services. Above any other year, this year people are loaded down with bills and the cost-of-living crisis we are going through. It makes it even more urgent that the recommendations in this report are implemented because we cannot have a situation where parents are forced to take unpaid leave from work and where siblings might be forced to take unpaid leave from work as well to fill in the gaps. We need to be mindful of that.

We all hear from parents of the one commonality, which happened during Covid as well, namely, how their young people regressed. They regressed in maths and reading, if they did those subjects, and they regressed in their social skills. That regression is not only deeply unfair to the person involved and to the parents but also to us in building up the capacity of children and young people and helping them to fulfil their potential. If they continue to regress, it will take longer for them to fulfil their potential. We need to be mindful of that and to ensure it does not happen.

I noted that the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, said everybody should get a place. I would love to hear it said that everybody must get a place. I know the Minister of State is doing everything she can to get that done. It is very important that schools are given the resources. It is also important somebody is accountable and somebody states what has to happen, asks what is needed to make it happen, and offers to provide the resources to make it happen. It is not good enough to ask parents whether they have the option of home tuition because that is not suitable for everybody and sometimes I feel it is a get-out clause. That should not be used when we know the benefits of social interaction for children and young people. They are unquantifiable in many ways.

I will go back to where I started in terms of the expectations of parents. I hope the recommendations the committee worked so hard to have documented in this report are implemented in order that they will make a difference to the lives of the people we are all here to support.

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