Shane Ross (Independent)

I thank the Leader for providing an hour and a half for this debate, in response to a request I made to her. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, for coming to the House to give us a comprehensive reply to some of the statements that have been made. I do not believe his speech was adequate, however, as it read like many of the presentations made to the Joint Committee on Health and Children some time ago. The presentations were defensive, somewhat self-congratulatory and did not hold out any particular hopes or projections for the future. It should be acknowledged that successive Governments have done a great deal for people with special needs but this debate is about autism. I had hoped the Minister of State's contribution would provide a great deal of information about the numbers of autistic children and adults, the projections the Department feels are appropriate for the future, costs and the measures that could or should be taken. Such details were singularly lacking in his statement. I admit that such information is difficult, if not impossible, to gather but it would be helpful if some realistic estimates could be obtained.