Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is autism awareness month. Notwithstanding that the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities will be before us this evening to take statements on disability and that there will only be one week left in the month when we come back in the week of 29 April, it would be fantastic if we could have a session on autism. In the previous Seanad, a committee led by the Leader's good colleague Deputy Carrigy, then a Senator, produced some fantastic reports on it. One of the reports has 109 recommendations. We also had the report on autism school provision, which contained another nine recommendations. Those recommendations span not just disability services but also employment, housing, education, independent living, personalised budgets and much of what has been already raised this afternoon. I would welcome the opportunity to have statements on autism awareness while also getting an update on the status of the autism innovation strategy, the chairperson and where the one-stop shops are being rolled out.