Mr. Tom McLoughlin:

I will try to wrap the two thoughts together. On planning for the future, it is important to emphasise that there is a negligible amount of planning done for the present, if any is done at all. If there is no planning for current services, it is not surprising that there is no planning for the future. Mr. Harris's comments on the charitable mindset are relevant. I brought up the educational model because of the comparison between what is physically available. For example one 18 or 19-year old student might be attending University College Dublin or Trinity College Dublin, whereas an equivalent might be banished to an industrial estate.

There is a lack of central planning. A central Department could work on that. I would also pick up on the point of who does the planning. While parents can make an input, they are overwhelmed and it would not be realistic or fair to expect parents of second and third level students to plan the third level educational model of their kids. Equally it is not practical in a lot of instances that parents could take the place of proper expert planning of an infrastructure for people with disabilities and with a need for lifelong services.

There is quite an amount of talk of new directions whereby if parents are only given money, they can go out and source services. That is all well and good but we spent our lives trying to source something which, quite simply, is not there. The only people who can put that in place are the Government and the Department. Many different section 38 and 39 bodies are involved in this and are advocating but everybody is operating without any infrastructure. When I say "without any infrastructure", that is probably not an overstatement.

I will pick up on Mr. Harris's point about the Covid-19 lockdown. It should have brought home the reality of the social isolation and exclusion of people with disabilities from everyday life. The lockdown worsened that isolation and exclusion but they are realities. A dedicated Department would be a good idea but the situation also requires bringing together a lot of skills. I do not think the idea that parents can invent something for their own individual kids is achievable, though perhaps I am too old. I would use the analogy that we would not expect parents to design educational training or a social life for their kids. What would happen if most parents of my age were to design the living facilities for their kids? There is an absence of infrastructure. The hard work of designing and implementing a service that caters for kids and adults with disabilities must happen. The money is being spent but much of it is being wasted. That is my view.