Mr. Mark O'Connor:

I agree with Mr. Holmes wholeheartedly in that. If we want policies within schools to succeed, then we must involve the young people in the schools in developing the policies. When they have this level of buy-in, they will succeed.

Inclusive education for all people is enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is looking at this and will bring forward policy recommendations to the Department. They will be very challenging for this committee. There is one thing we do know about inclusive education systems: when people are educated together, they are used to each other, they are more involved, and we know from the research that it leads to more inclusive societies where the othering and the bullying reduces.