Mary Henry (Independent)

I thank Senator Ross for sharing his time with me. I also thank him for initiating this debate and for explaining so clearly the practical problems that the parents of the children we are discussing are having.

Like Senator Ross, I too am rather disappointed by the statements of the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley. His statement focused on staffing, which is all very well, but as Senator Ross mentioned, we really do not appear to know the numbers of children who are suffering from autistic spectrum disorder – which is probably a better way of describing them than autistic children. Autism is not a pure diagnosis and it is a feature of many children who have mental disabilities.