Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials from the Department of Education and Skills for attending the committee today. We had a presentation earlier from Inclusion Ireland. Down Syndrome Ireland sent in several questions. While I know the issues have been raised before, on its behalf I would like to ask several of its questions which are still pertinent.

On the summer provision programme proposed by the Department, will the witnesses provide data on the number of children deemed eligible for the programme in past years? What percentage of these children actually availed of the July provision? If they do not have that to hand, will they come back to me and Down Syndrome Ireland on it?

We are still struggling with the Minister's decision. On 5 June, he had signalled that Down's syndrome children were to be included. We know secondary school children were not, however. Will the witnesses explain why that was the case?