Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 29 May 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Joint Meeting of the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Joint Committee on Education and Skills and Joint Committee on Health
Supports for People with Disabilities: Discussion (Resumed)

12:00 pm

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Joint Committee on Education and Skills, I am delighted to join the Co-Chairman in welcoming all the witnesses. We had a very interesting first meeting on this important topic. We realised after that meeting that the most important voices are those of the people who have the lived experience. That is not to take away from the very committed individuals who gave presentations on that day but, having discussed it, we decided that we needed to hear more of such voices. I have some experience in this. I have a brother with Down syndrome who has a very important job. He views his job as more important than mine. He certainly takes as much joy and pleasure from his job as I do from mine. I also worked with Special Olympics. I am conscious of all we need to do as a society and as legislators to help support those who may find it more difficult to access education or jobs to get such access and to achieve their full potential. As an aside, the Joint Committee on Education and Skills is holding a meeting at 3.30 p.m. at which it will examine barriers to education for vulnerable groups, so it is continuing the theme.

I look forward to hearing our guests' stories and to engaging with them in order to discover what we can do to help. I thank Senator Dolan for his initiative in setting this up.

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