Ms Kerry Lawless:

I am appreciative of the opportunity to be here. I have been heartened by the discussion and the questions that were asked. The committee is trying to do a lot. It is trying to look at primary, secondary, further and higher education. I ask the committee to give itself the time to be able to give every area the attention it needs. It should not be a competition between all the areas. It is important that children now coming up through the education system get every support but we must also remember there are people aged 25 and above who did not get those supports first time around and want to get back into education. We should not be in competition with each other for resources.

Somebody mentioned the considerable amount of money that, quite rightly, is going into third level. We are saying we want to upskill and become a high-skill economy but that is not translating into including higher numbers of people with disabilities. People with disabilities are a very broad group. I can talk only about me and people with disabilities like my own. If we have the right supports, we can access flexible, part-time and well-paid work but that can happen only with the supports and if the threat of losing our social welfare is taken away. That must go. Going back to education cannot be a high-risk endeavour. I should not be worried that I might lose this or that when I go into education. That is another area where this committee's responsibility crosses over with that of the Department of Social Protection. There is only so much that can be done within education without also correcting the anomalies in social welfare. It will not work otherwise. I do not envy the committee because there is a lot of work involved. However, I have been heartened by what I have heard today.