Part of this work involves contributing to important government policy submissions, creating reports, and leading campaigns which aim to change attitudes and raise people’s understanding of Autism.
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Why this Campaign Matters
Ireland has a long and shameful history of failing to adequately safeguard children or place their rights first. This is particularly true of children with an intellectual disability, Autistic children and children with disabilities generally. For many years, our organisations and communities have highlighted the use of inappropriate restraint in Irish schools. These practises have seen children experience unexplained injuries, endure major trauma and distress and have their movements unlawfully restricted. We have patiently awaited guidelines from the Department of Education since 2018. During that time, children have continued to experience unexplained injuries and inappropriate restraint whilst the Department has sought to minimise its role and responsibility in proactively safeguarding children. The Department of Education published ‘Understanding Behaviours of Concern and Responding to Crisis Situations Guidelines for Schools in Supporting Students’ on Thursday the 12th of December 2024. The guidelines represent the weakest level of protections which can be given to those most at risk of abuse or injury. They have been published in a context in which the advice and concerns of Ireland's human rights institutions have been ignored and during a period in which a caretaker government was in situ and the Oireachtas not in session.
We are urging the Minister for Education and Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion to instigate a child protection review of the guidelines, and the reporting mechanism on the use of seclusion and restraint in schools, prior to their taking full effect in September 2025.
We believe this is of the upmost importance because:
1. The guidelines lack a firm evidence base: The Department has reported that they have piloted the guidelines prior to publication. No report of the pilot was drafted or published meaning a firm evidence base, which gives due weight to the views of students and parents, has been produced.
2. The reporting mechanism is not compliant with Children's First Legislation: The guidelines require schools to refer instances of restraint to the NCSE. The NCSE will have no power to investigate these incidents or a formal referral pathway to Tusla, the appropriate statutory agency to receive such concerns as set out under the Children's First Act. The Department is thus failing to put in place systems which robustly safeguard children.
3. The reporting mechanism does not prioritise children's rights or the voice of the child: The Department has been at pains to note that the voices of all stakeholders have to be given equal weight. This is not a child-centred or rights-based approach which prioritises those most at risk of restraint or injury.
4. The reporting mechanism falls foul of Ireland's international human rights obligations: The guidelines create a system which is inadequate to proactively safeguard children. This falls below the standards expected by the UNCRC, UNCRPD and the European Convention on Human Rights. It also fails to meet the standards expected of the Department of Education under its public sector duty.
5. The reporting mechanism is weaker than the protections which already exist in health, social care, mental health and incarceration settings in Ireland: Robust mechanisms are already in place to protect both service users and employees in health, social care, mental health and incarceration settings in Ireland. That children who access HSE services will have greater protection in those settings that in school makes little sense and ignores best practise approaches already in operation in the jurisdiction.
6. The reporting mechanism was published at a time in which adequate scrutiny and political accountability was sorely lacking: Given the extensive wait for the publication of the guidelines and the contested nature of their content, we believe it was wholly inappropriate for the Department to publish the document prior to the formation of the new government and at a time in which the opposition was constrained in its ability to scrutinise the guidelines.
7. The reporting mechanism continues to lack adequate independence or oversight: The guidelines as published will continue to see schools investigate instances of restraint, without any requirement to put in place school policy, clear pathways of referral to appropriate statutory authorities or the requirement of the Inspectorate to include compliance with the guidelines in Child Protection Inspections.
8. The guidelines will not safeguard children - particularly those disproportionately affected by seclusion and restraint: We are of the firm view that the guidelines that have been published will not robustly safeguard children. We believe your failure to act now will inevitably lead to more Autistic children and children with intellectual disabilities experiencing restraint, injury and trauma.
Please sign up to our mailing list below to keep in touch with our campaign to call for a child protection review of the guidelines, and the reporting mechanism on the use of seclusion and restraint in schools, prior to their taking full effect in September 2025.
The Joint Committee was set up in 2022 following a series of Dáil motions and Seanad debates calling for greater support for Autistic people and calling on the Government to address key issues which affect our community.
The Committee, which was chaired by Senator Micheál Carrigy, included members from across political parties and working groups within both the Dáil and the Seanad. It worked on a cross-party basis with support from across all political parties and groups across the Oireachtas. The Committee held 23 public meetings, including a session in the Seanad where they heard from Autistic self-advocates and family members about their experiences living in Irish society.
For just over one year, the Committee investigated a wide and diverse range of issues which show the breadth, diversity and pervasiveness of barriers that Autistic people and the wider community face. The report was structured around six main themes:
• Disability Services
• Education
• Social Protection
• Employment, Autistic People, Health and Wellbeing
• Autistic People, Housing and Homelessness
The report made recommendations for how the Government can address these issues to make Irish society work better for the Autistic community.
Read the full report here: Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism Report (full version)
Read the AsIAm Explainer on the report here: Explainer Joint Committee on Autism Report 2023
In June 2023, the DPO Network published a consultation report outlining the views and experiences of disabled people living in Ireland. It was based on 672 surveys and 8 focus groups.
The report was created in advance of the Irish Government presenting to the United Nations Committee on their work to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).
The DPO Network is made up of national Disabled People’s Organisations in Ireland:
• AsIAm – Ireland’s Autism Advocacy Organisation
• Disabled Women of Ireland (DWI)
• Independent Living Movement Ireland (ILMI)
• Irish Deaf Society (IDS)
• National Platform of Self Advocates
Download the report: DPO Coalition Consultation Report 2023
Access the Irish Sign Language (ISL) translation here.
AsIAm wants to transform the lives of Autistic people living in Ireland, by making our society a fairer and more equal place and supporting Autistic people to belong, and to feel accepted. For real change to happen, there must be a shift in the legislative landscape. Government bodies need to incorporate the needs of the Autistic community into all their decision-making.
As part of our advocacy work, AsIAm sends policy submissions to Government Departments and State Agencies so that the voices of our community are heard on a wide range of issues across Irish society. Submissions are formal advice and recommendations to help ministers or officials make informed policy decisions. The process of preparing a Submission involves collaborating with a wide range of perspectives within the Autism community, including Autistic people and families, and with professionals who work with Autistic people who provide key services, where appropriate. The purpose is to make sure that the barriers faced by Autistic people are identified and that we make recommendations to Government that will support our community to have the same chance.
AsIAm Submission to the Department of Housing and Local Government on their Statement of Strategy 2025-2028
AsIAm Submission to the Department of Social Protection on their Statement of Strategy 2025-2028
AsIAm Submission to the Department of Education on Post-Primary Guidance
AsIAm Submission to An Coimisiún Toghcháin (the Electoral Commission) on their Education and Public Engagement Strategy
AsIAm Submission to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on Proposals for Introducing a new National Disability Strategy
AsIAm Submission to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment on their Public Consultations on the Draft Primary Curriculum
AsIAm Submission to the National Disability Authority on their Strategic Plan 2025-2027
Submission to DCEDIY on the Autism Innovation Strategy
Submission to the Oireachtas Disability Matters Committee on DPOs and the UNCRPD
Submission to IHREC on the Strategic Plan
Submission to the Department of Transport on its Review of the Disabled Parking Scheme
AsIAm Green Paper Submission
Budget 2023 Analysis
Pre-Budget Submission 2023
Submission to the Department of Social Protection on the Reasonable Accommodation Fund
Submission on the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act
Submission to the Joint Committee on Health – Dossiers on Autistic Children
Autism Innovation Strategy Submission 2022
Every-Child-Counts-Report-May-2021
Submission to the Joint Oireachtas Justice Committee on Courts and Courthouses
Ireland’s National Autism Charity calls for Special Education Reform through Review and Implementation of EPSEN Act
Our Submission to the Join Sub-Committee on Mental Health - School Bullying and Mental Health of Autistic PupilsEmployment and Social Protection
Submission to the National Access Plan 2022-2026 Consultation
Submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Leaving Certificate Examinations
Submission to the Department of Education for School Transport Scheme
This section contains the Submissions and reports that were produced before 2021.
Pre-Budget Submission 2020
Pre-Budget Submission 2021
Every Child Counts: A Report into Autistic Children’s Access to Healthcare in Ireland 2021
Inclusion in Our Special Classes and Special Schools
Autism in the Workplace: Creating Opportunity for Autistic People (2021 Autism in the Workplace Report)
AsIAm is dedicated to supporting Ireland’s autism community to have the same chance to belong and feel accepted in the community. As part of this, AsIAm continues to campaign on range of issues which promote and advance the rights of Ireland’s Autism community.
These issues include:
AsIAm calls on the Government to fully implement all 109 recommendations contained in the Joint Oireachtas Committee Final Report.
• Fully implement the Education of Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004, changing the name to the Inclusive Education Act to highlight Government ambitions for transitioning to an inclusive education system.
• Update the EPSEN Act’s provisions to reflect best practices for inclusive education under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child).
• Reduce class sizes in mainstream schools to bring into line with the EU average.
• Increase Special Needs Assistants(SNAs) and Special Education Teachers(SETs) numbers.
• Regulate how Codes of Behaviour, Suspensions and Expulsions, and Seclusion and Restraint are used to manage Autistic children in Autism classes and Special Schools, and ensure that practices meet the full support needs of Autistic children.
• Legislate for Individual Education Plans, including a right to full educational assessments, to be provided for children with additional education support needs.
• Expand Children’s Disability Network Teams so that more Autistic children can be assessed for their needs and be supported.
AsIAm have been campaigning around several issues related to social protection, in which many in our community rely on as part of their income, including:
• Engaging with the Department of Social Protection on proposed changes to Disability Payments set out in the Green Paper.
• Raise the age in which families can receive Domiciliary Care Allowance for their child from 16 to 18.
• Improve employment supports for Autistic people, including access to reasonable accommodations, staff training and inclusive hiring practices.
• Introducing a Cost of Disability payment which addresses the additional costs of being Autistic or Disabled, and give community members an adequate income to live on.
• Changing the practices around disability assessments and applications for social welfare payments to make the more accessible and inclusive for Autistic people and community members.
AsIAm have been campaigning around several issues related to healthcare, including:
• Ensuring that all healthcare services are accessible to Autistic people and meet our community’s needs.
• Ensuring that Autistic people have timely access to disability services and supports.
• Ensuring that Autistic adults have a pathway to access autism assessments within the public system.
AsIAm advocates on several issues which aim to tackle the very high rates of unemployment and underemployment within our community, including:
• Ensuring that all employment supports are accessible to Autistic people and the wider community.
• Ensuring that organisations across the public sector recruit and retain autistic people as part of wider recruitment targets for disabled people.
• Ensuring that autistic people are more supported at work, such as with disclosing their difference or disability, accessing reasonable accommodations and in-person supports.
• Promoting opportunities for self-employment and entrepreneurship.
• Increasing support for work, work experience, recruitment and retention and return-to-work programmes for autistic people.
• Greater investment into providing Autism Understanding and Disability Equality training for organisations across the public and private sectors.
• How autistic people have worse physical and mental health outcomes compared to neurotypical or non-autistic people.
• Co-occurring differences or disabilities that some autistic people experience.
• Barriers to accessing healthcare for autistic people.
• Barriers around referrals and being accepted to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services that autistic children experience.
• Barriers to accessing mental health supports for autistic adults.
• Ensuring staff are trained around autism and have the cultural competence to support autistic people seeking access to health services.
• Co-occurring differences or disabilities that some autistic people experience.
• Barriers to accessing healthcare for autistic people.
• Barriers around referrals and being accepted to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services that autistic children experience.
• Barriers to accessing mental health supports for autistic adults.
• Ensuring staff are trained around autism and have the cultural competence to support autistic people seeking access to health services.
• How Autistic people can often face additional barriers to accessing housing.
• Barriers autistic people and families face in accessing housing support.
• How autistic people can have a greater risk of experiencing homelessness.
• Issues autistic adults experience in accessing social and affordable housing and navigating the systems local authorities have in place.
• Ensuring that housing is accessible to autistic people and built to Universal Design principles.
• Ensuring that the Built Environment and Public Spaces, including public buildings, are accessible to autistic people and the wider community.
AsIAm takes part in research projects and actively works on developing good practice in this area. In this section you will find the latest data on Autism from both Ireland and internationally. If you have queries on research you can contact our Senior Policy Officer, Adrian Carroll at adrian@asiam.ie
We work with every party and group in the Oireachtas, both in Government and in Opposition, to advocate on behalf of policies that meet the needs of Ireland’s autism community, and address the barriers to access and inclusion that Autistic people and our wider community experience all across Irish society. Our team includes members of various political affiliations and opinions. We hope this attention to diversity is reflective of our equally diverse autism community.
Our engagement with elected representatives is informed by the need for autistic people’s full inclusion and participation in Irish society.
We meet with members of the Dáil and Seanad to advocate to advance the rights of Autistic people and our wider community across a range of different policy areas, including education, healthcare, employment, social protection and justice.
All of this feeds into our broader campaign for a National Autism Strategy which is supported by underpinning legislation. This will enable different Government Departments to work together more effectively in meeting autistic people’s needs across the country. It will also recognise autism as a whole-of-life condition and ensure that public bodies are required by law to support autistic people’s inclusion.
Along with self-advocates and other disability organisations, we sit on the HSE’s Autism Programme Board and liaise with a wide range of Government Departments and State Agencies to make sure they understand autistic people’s experiences better.
We have no direct line to any Cabinet Ministers and do not sit on any Government Department’s directorates.
Government bodies do provide some funding towards our projects, such as Pobal’s Scheme to Support National Organisations (SSNO) Grant, and from the HSE and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for some of our initiatives, including the Autism Information Line. However, these funds are not statutory, nor do they come from a political decision or from a relationship with any Government Minister. AsIAm, along with other charities and community organisations, applies each year for Grant and we are judged solely on our achievements to date and the scope of our vision for future activities.
AsIAm does not and never will favour one politician or political party over another in any of our policy or advocacy work.
We engage with elected representatives from across all political parties and groups in the Oireachtas to highlight issues which affect our community. Autism is a whole-of-life difference or disability that is experienced by individuals and families across Irish society, regardless of their background, ethnicity, faith, gender identity or sexuality.
AsIAm takes a cross-party, consensus-driven approach in our policy and advocacy work. We will work with any and all elected representatives to achieve the goal of ensure that every Autistic person has the same chance to belong, feel accepted and be included across every aspect of Irish society.
Equally, we think that every politician and party should be held to account over the decisions they make that will impact citizens’ lives. We will always push for greater community involvement, accountability and transparency throughout the decision-making process.
All of our lobbying records can be viewed here at the here at the Register of Lobbying Returns’ website.
