Tom Shehan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome my fellow county man, the Minister of State, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, to the Seanad. I raise the need for the Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for primary care, social care, disabilities and older people, and mental health to introduce Ireland's first ever national autism awareness week from 1 April to 8 April 2016 and to have Ireland's first ever national autism awareness day on 2 April 2016 as a commencement debate. This is a very important matter and one which I will champion. The reason I have suggested 1 April to 8 April is that it coincides with World Autism Week, and 2 April coincides with World Autism Day.

For too long, people with autism have suffered in silence, many not even knowing that they have the condition. More must be done in order to highlight autism and its effects. I have been in contact with Irish Autism Action which agrees with me that we need to educate society about autism. It is its belief and mine that the people of Ireland are unaware how many suffer with autism. Irish Autism Action refers to a study which shows that one in 100 people in Ireland suffer with this condition at some level on the spectrum. However, that might be a conservative estimate, as in the UK it is believed that one in 88 people are on the autism spectrum.

The purpose of this Commencement debate is to raise awareness about autism. For every one that has the condition, five to six other people in the family are also affected. It is important that this message is delivered throughout society, and to one and all, to let people who are dealing with autism on a daily basis know that they are not on their own. The Government has implemented a number of measures to help improve the lives of people with autism. An additional €4 million was allocated in 2014 to assist in the implementation of the progressing disability services programme, equating to approximately 80 additional therapy posts. Further investment of €4 million has been provided this year to support the programme's ongoing implementation.

Improving access to therapy services for children in primary care and in disability services is a particular priority for the Government. Additional funding of €12 million was allocated by the Health Service Executive to meet the needs of approximately 1,400 young people who required continuing health-funded supports on leaving school or rehabilitative training this year. However, we can and must do more. We can also look to the Step Ahead programme and, in turn, roll out the programme throughout the country. Step Ahead is a unique 14 week interdisciplinary programme, providing both direct intervention and parent training and education to children under the age of five diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The child receives four hours of direct support weekly, two hours each Monday and Thursday, by skilled interventionists under the guidance and direct supervision of the team's speech and language therapist, occupational therapist and board certified behaviour analyst. The aim of the programme is to provide meaningful assessment across all early learning domains to establish strengths and needs, identify the most effective individualised intervention strategies and support parents to learn the intervention techniques to promote continued growth beyond the duration of the programme. Ultimately, the goal is to encourage at as young an age as possible those skills necessary to benefit from the most naturalistic and inclusive settings. We need to help extend this model to more families.