I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who regrettably cannot be here. I have been in the Seanad previously discussing certain elements of this Bill. I will not hold up the proceedings. I am here on behalf of the Minister who is completely supportive of the legislation before us. I will not be accepting the amendment.

I take this, again, on behalf of the Minister. The Government will not be accepting any of the amendments.

I thank the Senators for the contributions. We will not be accepting the amendment.

I will not be accepting the amendment.

I thank all Senators for their contributions. We will not be accepting the amendment.

I thank everybody who has contributed to this debate. I thank Senators Gavan and Moynihan for tabling the Bill and working so tirelessly to get it to where we are today. I acknowledge that amendments have been tabled and debate was allowed on them. This is democracy at its best and it was all facilitated. I am taking this Bill on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. He apologises for not being here as I explained earlier. The Acting Chairperson asked a question when she was contributing from the floor. …

I thank the Deputy for asking that question. For the past two years the Government has provided way more the amount of money required. We have been extremely successful in our budgets. The Deputy is correct in that the progressing disability services for children and young people, in its current format, is not meeting the needs of children. That is why I am engaging with parent forums. I have travelled around the country to hear about what is happening first-hand and to try to understand how exactly we can break do…

This issue is not unique to the Deputy’s area; it is right across the country. I was in Cork on Tuesday night with Deputy O’Sullivan. On the psychologist post, I introduced the post of assistant psychologist. This is the first time that we have had a commitment from the HSE on that grade. The news in that regard was announced here three weeks ago. That is the start of the process in addressing the waiting list of people waiting to see psychologists. On the issue of children progressing from their late teens into ad…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I also thank her for giving us the opportunity to discuss the matter last night. Since I met with the Deputy yesterday evening, we have made arrangements to facilitate a meeting at that school at which representatives of the HSE will be present. When schools and the likes of the Rainbow Club in Cork are coming forward and stating that they have the ability and capacity to recruit, we should be working with them. We know that there is a problem with recruitment within the H…

I thank the Senators for their contributions and working with me since February to ensure this Bill would come to fruition. I really appreciate the opportunity in that regard, not only because I believe the best fit for disability is in the Department responsible for equality. I thank everybody in the Department of Health, particularly Mr. Barry McGreal, who ensured this legislation would come to pass and that we would get the drafting done. I thank both Houses for allowing the consideration of the Bill. Senator Fl…

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to set out a response to the question in the House. The autism innovation strategy is in development, with the current focus on design, consultation and collaborative working structures. National action in respect of autism is a firm commitment in the programme for Government 2021 and I announced an intention to develop an autism innovation strategy and launch it in 2022. In budget 2022, the Minister and I secured €100,000 for the design and implementation of the aut…

My hope and aspiration for the entire strategy is that persons with autism will have a voice in the context of how their day-to-day living is impacted. It is also important to ensure parents have a voice. I refer to the issues of accessing services, education and housing, as well transitioning from school into higher education, the workforce and everyday life. That is the whole piece. We must listen to the voices of persons with lived experience in respect of where there are barriers or where various Departments ma…

The Deputy is never one to miss an opportunity. Let us be clear. The strategy oversight and advisory group will comprise stakeholders and people with lived experience of autism and neurodiversity. The group will input into the development of the strategy and have an ongoing role in monitoring its implementation. The group will be established following an open expression-of-interest process. As I outlined to the Deputy, the interdepartmental strategy development group will comprise officials and representatives of r…

I thank Senator O’Loughlin for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. The Minister is fully committed to any and all actions, underpinned by meaningful engagement, that might mitigate any challenges arising in the context of health workforce availability. The Senator has outlined the various challenges affecting pharmacies in particular, which are an essential service. Pharmacists are required on-site at all times to provide the service. I am taken abac…

I completely agree with the Senator that the crisis is now. We must address it now. There is a role for the PSI in stepping forward and we should not let the target of the end of 2022 for that process to be completed be the goal. The goal can be now and the organisation can address the matters identified by the Senator. There is also the opportunity to engage with a workforce coming this way and we should have the criteria to assess qualifications so we can have the opportunity to engage persons who want to work wi…

Yes, there are a lot of questions. I will read the blacks later on in order that I can obtain answers to them all. The questions that the Deputy has asked are no different from those asked by parents in Tipperary, Clonmel, Galway, Dublin, Limerick or wherever. These are the questions that every parent wants to get answers for. I thank the Deputy for raising these important issues for discussion in the House. I am involved in ongoing discussions with the HSE on this matter in light of the urgency involved. I am goin…

First and foremost, I acknowledge that the 91 disability teams do not have all of the staff that they require to do the job. Second, I acknowledge that there are children who have been waiting far too long on waiting lists and not getting intervention. Third, in the context of the €350 million that was allocated, and in the context of access to care waiting lists, I am ensuring that we get a fair portion of that money in order that we can provide public private therapy intervention so that every child can get a res…

I am pleased to have the opportunity to bring the Bill before the Seanad. The Bill will facilitate the transfer of specialist community-based disability services from the Minister for Health to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Broader disability equality policy is already the responsibility of the Minister following the transfer from the Minister for Justice in late 2020. Following this transfer, responsibility for disability equality policy and specialist community-based disa…

I would love to answer it.

I am going to put all this together. I have a rule that I respond to whomever is sitting in the House. I thank Senator Davitt for his short and swift support for the Bill, which is greatly appreciated. I also thank him for the work done in assisting us to get to this Stage. Senator Conway asked why this has taken so long and there are two answers. I have the official answer from my good colleague with me, Barry, and my answer; I will give my answer. There is no doubt this is a complex process and there are 65 amend…