Like the previous speaker, I would like to acknowledge some good news. We often stand up here and we criticise and say things are not good enough. However, over the last five years, I have been raising the case of Bandon Grammar School and its inability to access funding from the Department of Education for a special class for autism. There is an issue regarding the ability of fee-paying schools to access this funding. This has meant that for the last decade, in particular, Bandon Grammar School could only provide services through its own means as it got no support from the Department.

I am delighted to report that in the last week there has been a significant move here. It is the first fee-paying school outside of Dublin that has now gotten funding for a special class and that is really important. The special classes are an important part of our school ethos now. The idea of having special classrooms has resulted in a holistic approach to education. It was appalling that a school the size of Bandon Grammar School was not getting funding for that for the last decade.

I compliment, in particular, the principal and the former principal as well as the trustees who have waived all fees pertaining to this. It is now open to the entire community and anyone and everyone has the opportunity to apply for those places. It is a significant development for that community. I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, in particular. She visited the school with me on occasion and she and her Department worked with me to remove this barrier, so that now we have the opportunity to have special classes in every school that wants to have them.

I rise to bring awareness to the report on autism published by Senator Carrigy and his committee today. I pay compliments to all the Members who sat on the committee, as well as the people who contributed to the report and its findings. I would like to highlight some of the key findings, which are the asks of the committee. I would like to put pressure on so that the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, will consider them. I pay compliment to her because she has done so much work in this area, but we have a long way to go.

The main findings are that we should ensure that all autistic children will have access to the summer programme in 2023 and that we ensure that all special schools will provide the summer programme in 2023. I know of many schools that do not currently provide it. We should provide sufficient resources to schools so that they may offer comprehensive programmes to the summer programme in 2023 and liaise with the various stakeholders. I know many of the stakeholders contributed to this report. We should mitigate any constraints to the provision of the summer programme, including in the areas of staffing and pay issues; that we should broaden the potential workforce; and that we should mitigate any difficulties with Garda vetting. These were some issues some schools came up against. They could not get people through the Garda vetting process in time, or the resources were not there to run the programme. There were so many children with disabilities who did not qualify to participate in the programme. I have spoken to parents and I know some parents in my area are very involved in it. The positivity the children received from the programme is to be commended. It should be rolled out for all children with disabilities and for those with autism, in particular.