Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In supporting Senator Garvey's comments on autism spectrum disorder, ASD, units, I know the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, is highly cognisant of where the gaps are. Only last week there was an announcement of 25 new units in primary schools. I am working with the Dublin 12 campaign for an autism-specific school and Involve Autism. I am very much aware that issues presented to the Minister of State are being dealt with very effectively and efficiently. In my own area of Dublin 6 and Dublin 6 west, and if we include Dublin 4, there are 9,000 school places but only 14 autism-specific places.

I call for the House to have some sort of debate to address the reality of our services working from home. Currently, there are people working in public and private services working from home in what may not be ideal circumstances. They might not be conducive to normal flow and work patterns. Working from home in an unplanned way at the height of a pandemic has not necessarily lent itself to the efficient outworking of the public services, or, indeed, private services. I really appreciate the really hard work that has gone on. This is a very real issue. I have spent six weeks trying to get personal public service, PPS, numbers and there are delays across all Departments. We get told that a person is in an office on his or her own and that is if we get through to somebody. We need a debate that addresses the reality that because of the circumstances, everything has slowed and there will be a backlog. Supports will be needed and we require a discussion on how to address this after the pandemic. We should get ready now.