I thank the Taoiseach. I call Deputy Carrigy.

I take on board what the Deputy is saying and I appreciate that he has been consistently and articulately advocating on this issue for a long time.

Time is up. We have to stick to the time.

I speak as a member of the all-party Joint Committee on Autism. At a meeting yesterday, the autism innovation strategy, launched by the Government in August 2024, came up. As part of that strategy, in one of the points related to advocacy, understanding and acceptance, we stated we would establish an autism innovation fund. The fund is to be twofold, to provide for funding for innovative projects, initiatives and activities designed to support and empower autistic people around Ireland and, second, to support research that aims to increase our understanding of autism and autistic people. To date, to my knowledge, no procedures have been put in place and no funding has been spent in that regard. In budget 2025, €2 million was budgeted for this and nothing was spent, and €2 million has been budgeted for 2026. When will we see this money rolled out to organisations that are advocating on behalf of the autistic community throughout the country?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I will have to talk to the relevant Ministers in respect of the autism innovation fund, which was recommended by the committee. I may have further discussions with the Deputy to see how best we can proceed with this and in what specific area. It has application across education, health, work and generally. Maybe it should be combined with some research and some broader analysis of the spectrum, if you like, and how best we can do better in respect of people who are on the autistic spectrum in terms of their participation in life.