Mr. Barry McGinn:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak this morning. It is a privilege to be here and I commend the committee on its work, since its inauguration, in highlighting issues that affect many people with disabilities in Ireland.

I have been the chief executive of the Rehab Group for the past few years. I am joined by my colleague, Ms Bird, who is the director of the National Learning Network, NLN. I am delighted to be joined by Ms Newman, who is in the committee room. She is a former student of NLN and will share her personal experience with the committee.

The Rehab Group provides services for more than 10,000 adults and children per annum, and champions the values of diversity and inclusion for persons with disabilities or disadvantage in their communities, throughout Ireland. We support people to live the lives they choose by providing care, education and meaningful employment opportunities.

The NLN is the education and training arm of the Rehab Group.

We deliver education and training services on behalf of the Government. We offer four core education and training services, namely, bridging and transition services with the HSE on a national basis; specialist vocational training, including employer-based training, with the education and training boards, ETBs; education support services with higher education and some further education and training institutions; and individual placement and support services with the HSE mental health services in a number of locations across the country. These services span inclusive education at all levels and support equity of access in education, lifelong learning, and employment for people with disabilities. Through these services, every year we support between 6,000 and 7,000 people with a disability or a health-related support need, including school leavers and those who need a second chance at education. We have 50 centres across the country, serving both urban and rural Ireland. We are a pan-disability service. Disability diagnosis is not so important.

As we know, disability affects people in different ways. We meet people’s needs and work to remove barriers to inclusion. We work across age groups from 16 to 65. People choose NLN because of the way we work to support them. We adopt a rights-based approach in the delivery of our education and training services. The guiding principles of the UNCRPD are inherent in the day-to-day delivery of our services and this was the case long before ratification of the convention. Our approach to delivery is informed by the universal design for learning and we provide extensive wide-ranging holistic supports personalised to meet each student’s needs. These supports span psychological interventions, welfare supports, housing supports, money management and poverty alleviation, community inclusion activities, health and wellness. All ensure that basic human rights are met.

Students are central in all our work. Our recently published strategy, Delivering Our Future, states our intention to further enhance student involvement in consultation through co-design and co-production of future services. All programmes at NLN, from level 2 to level 5, are accredited on the national framework of qualifications. We are currently designing level 1 programmes to meet the needs of some young people who experience severe and profound disabilities and who are deferring day places. We are impact focused. Each year, approximately 500 of the students who complete their courses in levels 2 to 5 of rehabilitative training and specialist vocational training progress to employment and 950 progress to higher levels of further education and training or higher education. This equates to over 90% positive outcomes for those who complete their education courses with us.

I will address some of the issues in delivering a right-based approach to education and training, based on our direct experience as a provider and the lived experiences of the people we support. One of the main areas for improvement is the need for more formalised transition planning from second level to further and third levels for persons with disabilities. There is a lack of comprehensive knowledge about post second-level training providers, including specialist provision like NLN, so students lose out on inclusive education and training opportunities because they simply do not know about them. Another big challenge is the lack of career guidance in special schools. This area is under-resourced and means students with disabilities do not get the chance to look fully at all their education and training options. Another transition piece is the journey from training into employment. This can be quite challenging for some and we have heard about that already this morning. Post-training support would be a highly effective intervention and deserves consideration by the Government. Significant changes are also required to the funding model to support the delivery of inclusive and flexible educational services. A capital investment plan for infrastructure and technology-enhanced learning is also required. Current provision must expand to cater for students with profound and severe disabilities who are leaving second level and who, for the first time, can defer their day service places and continue in education. Provision needs to be authentic in meeting these students’ needs and available close to their vital family supports.

NLN is, therefore, proposing six areas that we believe would be impactful in aligning post second-level education with the UNCRPD. Our first recommendation is to improve transition programme planning for persons with disabilities from second level, with appropriate levels of funding and upskilling for career guidance. Second is investing in career guidance in special schools in order that students do not lose out. Third, we should invest in post-training support services for people with disabilities exiting training into employment. Fourth, we should put students’ needs first by ensuring informed choices for people with disabilities accessing education that suits their needs and preferences, whether that be mainstream or specialist, such as by promoting specialist services as part of the further education and training college of the future. Our fifth recommendation is to deliver a capital investment programme and provide a multi-annual funding allocation model. Finally, we should support the development of programmes for people with moderate, severe and profound disabilities who are deferring day places, and recognise these as vital for a more inclusive future.

I again thank the committee for the opportunity to bring these matters to its attention. The members would be most welcome to join us at any of our centres for a visit at any time. We would be delighted to arrange that. Ms Bird and I would happy to take questions. I will now hand over to Ms Newman to share her personal experience.