Results 2,581-2,600 of 6,500 for speaker:Ruairí Ó Murchú

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: Politicians are great at talking about the need to deal with stakeholders. SFI did that. That there were 18,000 submissions is impressive. Reference has been made to the importance of inclusivity and how it is an easy word to use. The difficulty in that regard has also been mentioned, that being, making this world much easier to traverse for autistic people and others who are experiencing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: In fairness, I did not put enough emphasis on that at the outset. Much of this work looks at ways of introducing inclusivity. There are two elements. First, a lot would work better if we had a greater level of understanding. We could probably say that there has been a general understanding in recent years. Second, we could give people strategies for making situations easier. It is not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: There is a huge amount in that regard. Putting supports in place for people that allow them to be all they can be, to use a terrible term, is the framework the committee generally deals with. There are two parts to this: putting in place strategies that work with professionals and others who interact with various cohorts, including autistic people; and providing particular skill sets or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: Dr. Lopez is talking about a genetic variation. There is sequencing of parents and whoever else before and something similar is being found, so Dr. Lopez is saying there is an aberration in that sequence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: It is a change rather than that a gene comes into play.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: I understand. It is not like we are looking at the autistic gene per se.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: I did not think so and I am not looking for it. I am just making sure I understand what Dr. Lopez is talking about.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: It is very good to see the parents were interested because I would have an element of interest in that myself. As I said before, our Turlough, my 14-year-old, is autistic. He had glue ear. We thought it was language delay initially. We then went through the chicken-and-egg processes as to what caused what. You go through a whole pile of reasons and you are then seeing a great deal more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: No. Dr. Lopez will be looking for people who will not do what I did. This is very interesting. Dr. Lopez discussed sleep research specifically, and sleep is something I am very interested in myself. When talking about drug therapies, will she elaborate on some of the specifics of the precision medicine and what we are talking about in that regard? It is difficult to get people to sign up...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: This is similar to what Dr. Lopez said when talking about precision-type action and what works for an individual, which is the best time and the best whatever. It is almost looking for bespoke solutions in respect of these, even of sleep.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: Everyone understands the idea of children with their minds racing where they will try anything not go to bed. Autistic children will also do that. Again, that does not upset up anybody if it happens to be a good day the next day. That can be much more severe when dealing with autistic children.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: I would imagine so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: Dr. Healy gets to the crux of the matter as it relates to an awful lot of issues that autistic kids and their families deal with, such as distressed behaviour. We all know the outworkings in relation to schools, so it is absolutely necessary to have follow through on assistive technologies or anything that can work. With regard to the research Dr. Healy spoke about, we need strategies for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: Scaffolding.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: And then give them wins as well so you can build on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: It seems like the only idea for an awful lot of people and if you can find a way of teaching them the curriculum and the means by which they can learn, that gives them fundamental skill sets.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: It is the means by which you learn. It is the fundamental building block you need. We all get the idea of early intervention. The witnesses spoke about bespoke solutions, which will work for people. We all know the services that are not there. I am not saying we can replace psychologists and speech and language therapists but in a very short period of time, we must be able to offer...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: I thank our guests. It is great to have them here. To follow on from Deputy Tully, Mr. Lennon is saying the centre needs a serious increase in the level of resources or else policy changes and that that is where the difficulties, as regards there being no Executive and the problems with the North-South Ministerial Council, come into play. Even though there is no minister in the North, can...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: We all understand that. Mr. Lennon is saying we would be having a different conversation if things were where we would prefer them to be, with the Executive up and running and so on. Would we then be having a conversation about resources? He spoke about a three- or four-year plan and I imagine that would involve expansion across the board.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Ruairí Ó Murchú: Everybody sees the appeal of being able to make longer-term plans rather than just continuing as we are. It is another argument for getting an Executive up and running, with the North-South Ministerial Council and all the other parts of the Good Friday Agreement in operation. Nevertheless, we will leave it at that, given it is not the issue we are here to deal with. Our guests might have...