Ms Catherine Kelly:

I am happy to take the first question. I thank the Deputy very much for her comments.

When we talk about how we can improve the transition from schools to WALK, we are looking at the special schools. It was very welcome to hear Ms Prendeville's news from the NCSE. One of the programmes we operate in counties Louth and Dublin is to provide support to people in special schools from the age of 15 years until they leave. We do a career guidance programme with them on their careers and where they are going. We also look at where they are on the FETAC scale and what qualifications they require. We need asking how is it okay for somebody to leave school without any QQI qualification and, where this happens, what we are doing wrong. It is really and truly about providing the appropriate supports and accommodations to enable people to follow that trajectory in their school education. The foundation of that is important for people. We all know that the foundation of education determines where we go in our lives. Not having that in place can be a real barrier for people.

On the issue of people coming to WALK, some years ago, we ran a traditional day service. We had to take a look at ourselves, which is great because it is all about reflecting to see if what we are doing is actually appropriate for the people we are supporting. We saw that people were coming into our services but we asked ourselves when they were leaving whether they were really contributing in society. Were they being supported to be as independent as possible? Were they living their own lives? We had to conclude that they were not and we completely changed what we do. Now we do not deliver the services but provide supports that are appropriate for people. People like Gavin come and tell us what they wants in their lives. Then we see how we can support them or ask what they need from us to achieve what they want in life and we look at how we do that. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It is about what is appropriate for the person and how we can support that.