Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome. I join others in acknowledging the work of Senator Carrigy and all the members of the special committee for its publication of the interim report, initially, into the summer programme, and the final report. I also welcome Adam Harris from AsIAm and thank him for his work and I acknowledge the work of the Houses of the Oireachtas and all of us who participated in achievement of making these Houses autism-friendly and receiving the accreditation.

I will pick up from where the previous speaker left off. That is the crux of the issue. We have a report and recommendations. It is not on the Minister of State’s shoulders alone to ensure its enactment. It is important that while none of these recommendations have timelines or a funding commitment, they are followed up. It is crucial that in the next programme for government, whenever that is, there is a commitment to enact, follow up, monitor and whatever word one could use, the recommendations published in the report. Obviously, some of those recommendations come with a financial cost and there has to be necessary buy-in to that. Some of the recommendations relate to time and a change in strategy, and the actual publication of strategies within every Department is one of the recommendations. That is fine but will that be renewed or reviewed? Are there timelines for them? It is important that these recommendations are followed up in the programme for government after the forthcoming election.

The report recommendations are broken down very well in terms of each Department. The first thing each Department does after each programme for government is published and agreed is to go through it and pick put the pieces that Department has to follow through on. It is up to the Minister in that Department to drive those issues. I ask that this be done.

Some of the recommendations are perhaps more complex while others are simpler. Some of them can be quick fixes and others have been achieved. Does the Minister of State have any indication of progress on some of those recommendations? The optional protocol has been touched upon as being a milestone decision. I know there was concern previously about the summer programme but maybe these things have changed. The interim report found that payment of teachers for the summer programme was not taking place until December. Has that changed, for example? Has that been done? Has it been enacted? Certainly, the summer programme has been regarded as being hugely successful and important. It is important in terms of, as well as being good for the children involved, taking a burden and pressure off of families, parents and siblings during the summer period. Everybody needs a break and for those who suffer or have challenges with autism, depending on the range, it is important they get the best education and that is what is provided through the summer programme.

A lot of work has been put into the recommendations. The most important thing now is that they be enacted. The best avenue for that is via the programme for government and the next government’s continued involvement in this programme. The hard work has been done in terms of the series of meetings with all stakeholders and groups, the work done by the secretariat and all the hours that went into this. A report has been published. Let us see that report fully implemented as quickly as possible and continuously monitored, followed up and followed through.