Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was an early school leaver, and I know the challenges out there. I come from a family of early school leavers, and this was not by choice but more because of need. I am showing my age but even getting to do the intermediate certificate was an achievement for someone in my family in getting that far. That is not to say anything about my parents, who did their best. They were early school leavers and I was an early school leaver as well.

I will also mention An Cosán. I went back to education in my late 20s, getting to third level and finishing my degree in An Cosán. I am eternally grateful to An Cosán for giving me that opportunity. The learning experience there was really welcome. We used to meditate before class and it was a really relaxed atmosphere. As somebody who was at the time very wary about the education system because of my experience going through it as a child, it was a really welcome experience. It allowed me to be me in that classroom.

There has been mention of empowering women and the whole family through education. As a father, I am thankful I was able to break through that cycle of poverty I was in. Without education, I have no doubt that I would not be sitting here having this conversation with the witnesses. I do not usually talk about myself this much but one of the members of the National One Parent Family Alliance is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It allowed me to access its bursary in order to pay for my educational journey and without that there was no possible way for me to finish that education. It also contributed to my food bills on a weekly basis. Without that, I would not have got through the journey either. I have much grá for both of those organisations.

There was mention of an ambitious poverty reduction target but I want to tease that out. What would that look like and how can we as a committee assist in realising that target? A tangible matter that should be simple to resolve is the expansion of the SUSI grant to single people and part-time courses. Are there barriers in this regard or how can we help with that as well?