Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today is World Autism Awareness Day. I have just come from the launch of the Same Chance report 2025, prepared by AsIAm, and there are some startling statistics within the report. Of the people surveyed, 91% feel that being autistic is a barrier to being accepted in our society. More than 50% of them were diagnosed privately as there is still no public pathway to diagnosis for children or adults, especially adults. Some 48% of those people surveyed said they did not feel safe and 44% had experienced discrimination in the past year. More than 70% of those surveyed feel our education and healthcare systems are not inclusive.

I was a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Autism and we produced a report with 109 recommendations. I am still a member of the all-party parliamentary group on autism. The purpose of that group is to oversee the implementation of these recommendations.

The autism innovation strategy was introduced in the term of the previous Government and was very welcome. However, it is a time-limited strategy and needs to be embedded in legislation. There has been some progress on that. What is the status of that legislation? Will it be introduced this year? I ask for an update on progress in respect of the recommendations of the joint committee, which cross all Departments.