Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply but I believe those words mask what is happening on the ground. I will finish with a quote from Amanda McGuinness, a parent who works with voluntary autism services in Mayo, who wrote:

Essentially the voices and the futures of children are being stolen from those as a direct result of the lack of therapy available. It confounds me that the Government do not see the problem that will befall society in years to come when all of these children are adults and have little or no life skills, are unable to care for themselves and have sent their parents to early graves from the stress and the worry.

We need to listen to those words and we need to make sure that the words the Minister of State speaks in the Seanad today, and the words that are so often spoken over the years, materialise into proper services and supports for parents of children and young people with autism.