Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here. The report contains 109 recommendations, but the committee probably could have made more. A great deal of work went into the report, which is a blueprint for how the services should be run. It tells the true life stories of the witnesses who appeared before the committee, provides details of the expert reviews and so on. This was probably the best committee of which I have been a member. Every member of the committee was passionate about the issue. We never fought or had a disagreement. I thank the Cathaoirleach, Senator Carrigy, Deputy Tully, the other members, the staff and the secretariat. They were amazing. I have previously prepared reports that have, unfortunately, been shelved, but I am very optimistic about this one. This Parliament is the first in the world to be autism friendly. That was achieved in an incredibly short time. More than 1,000 people completed the training. I do not want to name names; they know who they are. Some of them are present in the Gallery. As the old saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way. This time, the will was there and it worked and we moved things very quickly.

There are many different aspects to this issue. I will address a few of them. Where there is an action, there is an instant reaction. When people are not getting the services they are supposed or expected to get, that has a knock-on effect on the family members. It is a downward spiral. If people are getting the assistance, however, and the system is working, they will not knock it. It is very fragmented, however.

The Minister of State covered a great deal. She stated:

My officials engaged with more than 15 Departments and agencies to reach an agreement on actions. As part of this process, Departments and agencies were asked to consider the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Autism, insofar as the recommendations pertained to their areas of responsibility.

That last word, "responsibility", is the one that keyed me up. Everybody has a part to play in this.

A good friend of mine named Margaret Trundle ran summer schools for more than 25 years. I think she is still running them. She started off as a volunteer. There were fewer than 20 children there back then. Nine or ten years ago, when my children were teenagers in transition year, they volunteered for the summer. At that stage, there were more than 200 kids and more than 400 volunteers. It was all done voluntarily. It was amazing what that summer provision accomplished. The number of families affected and the amount of respite they got was frightening. It was probably the best thing to ground children and make them realise what they had, rather than taking it for granted. There were tears on both sides when I told my kids that their transition year was over, that they were going into the leaving certificate cycle and that they would not be able to return to the summer school the following year to help. Every year, my kids were there. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have witnessed. That is a credit to the people involved in Midleton and elsewhere in east Cork, particularly Margaret Trundle, who did this off her own bat for many years. What we are discussing is the provision of supports in order that people do not have to carry the whole weight themselves.

Members referred to mental health and so on. It is worrying and, of course, very stressful. I was on a disability committee in the previous Dáil term along with former Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin. My God, the harrowing stories we heard about families who were out of options. One family had in their kitchen an Alsatian cage into which they put the child when that child kicked. That was their only option to ensure the safety of the child, but also of the family. Thankfully, I have not heard any such stories for a long time. I do not ever want to hear stories like them again.

This was one of the best committees. We all worked together. What is in this report is very doable. We need the Minister of State to engage with all the Departments and agencies. I have faith in her. I know she can crack the whip. I and others on this side of the House will support her in whatever way we can. This is about doing the right thing. This report gives voice to people's true life stories. The committee just reflected those stories and put them down on paper. We now have to move from paper to actual results. We in this House will do whatever we can to push it on. The door is wide open; let us push it forward.

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