Mr. Mark O'Connor:

There was quite an array of questions, so I hope the response is not too rambling. I will address the education issues first and what can be done better there. The reason we speak about those autism spectrum disorder, ASD, units at second level is that we are speaking about community participation and so forth. We support parents in various areas of the country. Limerick would be one such black spot where there are very few ASD units. There are children in Limerick being bussed to north Cork, south Tipperary and way over to west Limerick and we are taking them out of their communities. They are not going to the birthday parties, they are not going to the football club and all of that stuff. That is why that is an important issue.

There was the question as to what we could do in regard to schools and preparing for life and work. We have already mentioned the careers guidance and I am not going to labour that issue. Is that a public sector duty? Is is perhaps a discrimination under that duty? That is something the Department would need to examine itself.

In terms of good practice, we have spoken about WALK PEER here on a number of occasions. A few of the Deputies and the Senators have spoken to it. It piloted a programme in County Louth where it goes into the special schools, meets young people from 16 years of age and starts talking about ambition. What are the students going to do when they leave school? We would have a link in with this group. It tries to anchor somebody down with a part-time job in his or her community, so that person leaves school, he or she knows what work is about, that he or she gets a few quid for work and that it is beneficial.

Our colleagues in Disability Federation Ireland, DFI, have spoken about poverty. The best way out of poverty is a job. When we speak about the joblessness, it is even more significant for people with intellectual disabilities. The national intellectual disabilities database mainly relates to people with a reasonably significant intellectual disability who are availing of some type of service. There are quite a few on that database who are looking for work. Less than 1% of the people on it are in open employment. Approximately 17% of people with intellectual disability of working age in this State are in employment. The numbers are really low.

It was mentioned that we need to work with employers which is correct. The National Disability Authority, NDA, does frequent attitudinal survey and, thankfully, this time attitudes have improved. There is still a small cohort of employers who would have a reluctance to employ someone with a disability, mainly in the autism and intellectual disability area.

Dr. McCarthy spoke about passports, especially for people who have a communication difficulty of any type, be it intellectual, physical or otherwise. The transition passport is really good. It helps them blend in somewhere a lot more quickly as regards their wants, their needs, their likes, their dislikes, etc., what they are good at and what needs to be worked on.

Education involves the schools but when one looks at the vocational end of things and at our friends in the education and training boards, the courses are at a lower level. However, bringing this back to the public sector duty, all the supports that are available in higher education are only available at FETAC level 5 or upwards. If one is entering a course at FETAC level 3 or 4, one cannot access the fund for students with disabilities. I will give members an example. We supported a young lady a couple of years ago who attended mainstream school all her life but wanted to do hairdressing. There was no hairdressing course in the Republic of Ireland, definitely not in the north east, that was below FETAC level 5. She needed to go in a lower level to build herself up. There was something in the Southern Regional College in Newry and it was included in the fund for students with disabilities. However, because the course was at a basic level, she could not get the support she needed around transport, breaks, etc. The college said it had the people and was funded but as the course was at a certain level, she could not access it.

The Youth Guarantee was mentioned. Unusually when Ireland adopted the Youth Guarantee, it did not include young people with disabilities which was a puzzling decision. I was not aware of the lone parents. At a European level, they were included in the Youth Guarantee.

Mr. Murtagh will talk to the committee about employability.

We have spoken of public sector duty. Dr. McCarthy commented that a person with a disability is twice as likely to be in consistent poverty and three times as likely to be at risk of poverty. A Department must consider what it is not doing right and it should look at what is being done. This might not just be the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and there may be concerns about housing, transport or other matters. These are questions that must be asked. There was mention of the certificate in contemporary living at Trinity College, which is a course specifically for people with intellectual disabilities. I could be wrong but I believe those students are the only undergraduates in Ireland who pay tuition fees. Is that an issue for public sector duty? I do not know. Again, people in the Department need to ask themselves about that.

Community life and participation is at the heart of this and this is where a personal budget would benefit people. I have a son with autism and quite a significant intellectual disability. As a family, we have considered what he can do. He accesses a really good service during the week and we asked what we could do at weekends. We access local community events. We go to a park run on Saturday mornings. On Saturday nights, we generally go to the pub and do whatever else on Saturday afternoons. It could be anything. On Sunday mornings, we walk dogs at the local rescue centre and we go to trad sessions on Sunday afternoons. These are activities that are community-inclusive. I support him in doing that. If a young or even older person with a disability does not have that support, what is there? The community gets something back from us and we do voluntary work as well. There is an example already there for young people, namely, the youth advocacy programme, which was initially set up for young people having early engagement with the criminal justice system or at risk of that. It has been rolled out for young people with disabilities and although it only lasts a year, it gets people anchored in their communities. Perhaps it could be rolled out into other age groups as well.

With regard to transport, there are major accessibility issues and it is typified in the cohort of people with disabilities who protested about this outside the Houses of the Oireachtas. Some of them came here to address one of the committees. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had not been ratified at the time. A gentleman came from Donegal, where there is no accessible bus. He had the undignified experience of being lifted from his wheelchair and being put in the front seat of the bus, with the chair folded up and put in the boot. The reverse procedure occurred when he got to Dublin.