Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Much of the information he has given me he has also provided in reply to other parliamentary questions and I thank him for it. I do not think there is anybody in the House who believes that the current level of service provision is acceptable. We have a fantastic group of parents in Ballymun and Finglas who have established a peer support group. People often come to my constituency office with a diagnosis for the first time and their experience of the assessment process, the diagnosis and the plan for treatment and therapies is sparse to say the least. People are told that their allocation of hours for treatment and therapies has been used up by the assessment process in that year and they must wait until the following year. Often they are handed very medical and technical diagnoses. People are never sat down for an explanation of what autism might be and what their condition might be. The anxiety is significant. We need to put these posts in place because these children desperately need a better service.

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