Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson for his kind words. Ultimately, this report is about giving every child the same chance in life and the opportunity to achieve their potential, whatever that may be. I have the report with me and one of the reasons I put the words of Fiacre Ryan in the foreword, which Senator McGreehan mentioned, is the quote sums up a lot:

It only seems appropriate to give the same rights given to those without autism to individuals with it. Needing some type of assistance does not make someone less of a person ... Try to see past the autism and realise that we are the same inside as others.

That can go for any disability. Those are powerful words and it was one of the most powerful days in this Oireachtas when young Fiacre and his family came in here. He was the first non-verbal person to give evidence at an Oireachtas committee. We also had the day in the Seanad when Government business was moved and we had self-advocates and family groups from around the country sitting in the seats of elected representatives, giving their views and their stories. It was one of the most powerful days of testimony given to any committee. Those of us who were there will never forget that day.

I thank all the Members for their contributions to the debate, and particularly for their comments to myself. This was a cross-party committee of Members of the Dáil and Seanad. I acknowledge Senators Walls, Flynn, Garvey and Ardagh, who were part of that committee. I also thank my colleagues from the Dáil who were on the committee. I particularly thank the Minister of State. Other Members have highlighted her immense contribution. She has not been afraid to take on the Department and the HSE and fight. She listed numerous advances that have been made and significant numbers of them are recommendations in the report that have been implemented. We will publish an update within the next couple of weeks, before any election, when we have finally got all Departments to reply to the letters I sent to them. We will have an update on where we are and our plan is to traffic-light where we are with implementation of the report. That will be a benchmark for those in the next government and Members of Dáil and Seanad Éireann. It is somewhere I intend to be to be able to hold Departments to account and review, in June 2025, the 24-month follow-up on the report.

I compliment the Minister of State on her work on the strategy. I know it was a fight to get a lot of things into it that would not have been there otherwise. The optional protocol is something the Minister of State has fought for as well. Yesterday was a great day when the Government passed ratifying the optional protocol.

Adam, Niamh and Michael are here from AsIAm. It is important to note the work they have done, which is going into its eleventh year, to put the issue on the national agenda. I thank them for their work. They have a lot of further work to do. Funding has been given to the helpline manned by AsIAm. We now have the AAC devices and this needs to be rolled out. Every child with a speech and language issue should have an AAC device provided by the State with the requisite app on it. I have seen what it can do for my son. It can do the same for every child and It needs to be rolled out. The reality is that we do not have the therapists. Despite the increased number of places at third level, it is going to be difficult and we need more and more. However, a lot of work can be done at home by parents with that technology in place. We need to roll it out.

Senator Wall and visited the Scottish health minister 12 months ago. We met the minister, people from the department of health, and Scottish Autism. The Minister of State was over there. We saw what benefit the community hubs are over there. We need to see their roll-out across all new RHAs or the old CHO areas, as were, and regionalise them across the country so that every child, parent and family has access to a community hub and community support.

A number of Senators mentioned the project in Leinster House. We have spoken about the OWL project. Every day when I come in and see the OWL trainees, it puts a smile on my face. It is brilliant to see that opportunity being given to them. The autism-friendly Parliament project we did here and the training and awareness project are a catalyst for the remaining Departments to do the same. It is important to put on record our thanks to the Ceann Comhairle, the entire parliamentary services, Roisin Deery and the EDI team, who led out and supported those projects. A number of Departments are following suit on the back of what we have done. Other agencies, even sporting agencies, have come on board. I believe that awareness project here will lead to societal change, societal understanding and awareness. By being aware, we can get those changes made. Ultimately that needs to change across all disabilities, not just in the autistic community.

I am grateful to the witnesses who contributed to our numerous meetings, and indeed to the autistic community for their support and for the passion and commitment they have given throughout the years in face of what are difficult challenges for them in their lives. It has been a privilege for me to work so closely with the community on the report and I am grateful for their continued co-operation, in spite of the sense of disappointment they might feel having been marginalised by the State and society. That is changing. The State and Government are changing. We have more to do. We have to make sure that society changes by informing more people and making them aware. That process has started. I would like to thank all those families, their supporters, and the autistic children and young adults for their patience and support in our efforts to make sure we promote inclusion across all of society.

I slightly differ from the Minister of State regarding legislation. It is something I am extremely strong on and all members of the committee were strong in their view on that. We have a strategy in place for 18 months but legislation will compel the Minister of the day, whoever that may be, and whatever government might be in power, to make sure they implement that strategy for whole of life, not for 18 months. By putting that in place we could rebuild the trust with those families that we will provide the services they need for whole of life, not just for 18 months.I will push with colleagues in my party to make sure that is part of our general election manifesto and that if we are going into government post election, that it would form a part of the programme for Government, that we would legislate for the strategy and build on the good work the Minister of State has done and make sure that those supports are there for whole of life.