Dr. Margaret Rogers:

I will follow on from that. Again, looking to the EU child guarantee, there are very clear areas for investment that need to be looked at there. Early childhood care and education is one. Education and school-based activities or out-of-school activities and recreational and social activities for children are another, including at least access to one healthy meal every day and access to fundamental primary healthcare for all children. We know from the research that underpins the child guarantee that more than double the number of children with disabilities or special educational needs leave school early relative to their able-bodied peers in school. In that area we have demonstrated through the access and inclusion model over the past five years that children with disabilities, even those with quite complex health needs, can participate in mainstream services with their peers in their own community. It is that kind of model, as I mentioned earlier, of progressive universalism, where the services are available locally to the children within their peer networks, progressing to meet their individual needs, individually assessed. Those are the things: education, health and childcare, from the point of view of children's development to enable parents to work and stable, secure, adequate housing.

As Senator Ruane said earlier, what is required is the co-ordinated political will to put those things together in a concentrated way. The national development plan offers a similar opportunity, alongside the EU guarantee, to ensure that some of the fundamentals are put in place for children and families in Ireland.