A range of services and supports are available to support autistic individuals and their families. These fall within the remit of multiple Departments such as the Department of Health, the Department of Education and my own Department in the context of specialist community-based disability services and the access and inclusion model. Disability services are provided throughout the country to people with disabilities, including those with autism. These services include residential, day and respite services, alternat…

I thank the Deputy. There is work to be done with our providers, by whom I mean the Department of Education and Bus Éireann, and in special education, not only on awareness but also on understanding. There should be understanding and awareness of what it is to be an autistic child, what it is to be the parent of an autistic child and how they need to be supported. They are no different to any other child trying to access education. Ping-ponging parents over and back is not acceptable. What is acceptable is inclusio…

I agree, and it is all about understanding. This is why I set up the autism innovation strategy. I genuinely believe there is low-hanging fruit for which we do not need legislation. There is work that can be done on innovation and empowerment. We can empower teachers. While we are speaking in this respect, we can also empower bus operators, bus providers and SENOs to support families in such positions. I do not believe that there is a need for legislation. What is needed is better guidance, better understanding and…

A nursing home can be an appropriate care option where the person concerned has a clinically assessed complex medical and social care requirement that cannot be supported in the person’s home. However, as identified in the Ombudsman's report, Wasted Lives, for some people under the age of 65 nursing homes are not an appropriate placement and alternative, more suitable supported-living solutions are needed to give them greater independence and choice in their daily lives. Measures to prevent young persons from enter…

I have put funding in place to ensure the HSE is able to recruit to that steering committee, and put staff and a pathway in place to start engaging with people who are inappropriately accommodated. To date, it has engaged with 412 individuals. As recently as last Thursday I was in County Longford, where I met three individuals who have moved into their own home, thank God. Three is so few in the overall context but 417 people are being engaged with as we speak. On the neuro teams, I sought funding in the budget las…

With the support of the Minister over the past number of years, I have built on the budget for PA hours. We cannot conflate what home support and PA hours are. They are two separate things. PA is the arms and legs of an individual to ensure that he or she has the right to participate in his or her community. I recently held a meeting where Ms Shelly Gaynor was my speaker on this matter, in addition to Home Care Direct. In fact, I am very passionate about a personalised budget and personalised hours. We cannot talk …

One of the central principles and opportunities relating to the transfer of functions was to ensure a legally and operationally robust governance framework that provides for the appropriate budgetary and performance management of the specialist disability services delivered by or on behalf of the HSE. The legislative framework in place since the commencement of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 is underpinned by a suite of co-operation and reporting arrangements to provide for close collaboration betwe…

I thank the Deputy. She hit on several key elements but the core one she speaks about is the recruitment and retention crisis that our health and social care professionals and providers are facing. While I hear what the Deputy is saying about recruitment and retention in section 39 organisations, I do not believe the issue is unique to them; it arises right across the board. The section 38 organisations are experiencing it, as is the HSE, although not to the same extent as the section 39 organisations. The Minister…

I acknowledge Noel's family who are here with us. We have Mary, Joan, Emer, Lisa and Rory, along with his most wonderful grandchildren and his sisters Marian and Nóirín. Like Deputy Canney, I am going to take a bit of a different tack. I am in politics because of Noel Treacy. He was the man who came into a house in Abbeyknockmoy and opened his book and said, "If you are really interested in politics, Ms Rabbitte, I will help you". At that stage, Noel had stepped away from the party but he was deeply involved in our…

I thank the Labour Party for tabling the motion. I acknowledge Deputies' support of me in my role as Minister of State with responsibility for disability, and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, who has been present for the entire duration of this debate to support me. On reflection, I went over my diary to see how I spent the past month to colour and put in context what I am doing behind the scenes. I met with FUSS Ireland, AsIAm, Mr. Bernard Gloster, nine disability managers - that was nine separate meetings - and all…

For once and for all, we must put the parent and child first-----

-----and that is what I will be doing. I will hand over to Deputy Moynihan.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As I clarified earlier, there are ten beds in CHO 4 in Cork that are not operational at this time. I have given a suggestion to the HSE that it would recruit agency staff to open the beds and, in addition, that two of those beds would be held for the special school in Carrigaline in order that the children who attend that school would be accommodated.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, absolutely. I thank Senator Carrigy very much for raising this very important issue. It is important to have it on the record that we understand this. The script I have in front of me is a combination of a script from the Department of Justice and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth so we could try to give a comprehensive response. I am conscious we have a visiting a school group in the Public Gallery who will hear me talk about young people and their rights, and the voice o…

I thank the Senator. In my concluding statement, I can say my own few words. The opening statement was a combination from two Departments, trying to get to the basis of it. Quite rightly, much work is going on but that has not really been rolled out on the ground because what I heard in Senator Carrigy's introductory remarks was that parents say that when they encounter an issue, they do not understand it, or there is no mechanism there to support that communication piece. The Senator is right in what he says regar…

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. It is important to say that the PDS roadmap will be launched in the next couple of weeks and it addresses all the factors the Deputy raised.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue for discussion. As the Deputy will be aware, in 2018 the HSE commissioned the National Independent Review Panel, NIRP, to review the governance arrangements of a residential service for adults with a disability in County Donegal. The NIRP’s executive summary of the Brandon report was published in December 2021, which was the Thursday before Christmas. This followed a look-back review completed in 2018 and a safety assurance report undertaken in 2020. As part of th…

It is incumbent on me to ensure the independent expert review group that is put in place with an independent expert is not seen through a medical but rather a social care lens. The person, and his or her environment and family, should be seen in the round, and the person should be put at the centre. As we read in the Brandon report, it should not be about episodes and every outburst being viewed through a medical lens as an episode requiring a medical model, as opposed to understanding the underlying conditions an …