Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. As regards the discussion the Minister and I had last week, to which he referred, I went back to the student in question and he said that after much fighting with the college, the situation has been resolved. He will get a second personal assistant, PA, which is good news because he was thinking of withdrawing from the course, which would have been an awful pity. He said he had bad experiences right throughout second level and thought it was going to happen again. The situation has been resolved, however. He pointed out that although students are given a PA in college, they are not given assistance to study and work outside college, especially if they are living away from home. That is another issue I raised last week. If a student is lucky enough to be living at home, close to the further education centre, he or she may have a PA.

A number of students raised with me the issue of part-time learning, to which the Minister referred. We would welcome flexibility in that regard. Many people who have appeared before the committee to give their lived experience would say it is difficult to take on a full-time course. That may be down to financial reasons but it may be also for physical reasons. People who have chronic pain may not be able to attend college every day. There is a need to have other options, such as a blended option involving people connecting in virtually.

On the issue of exam time, students with disabilities are given ten or 15 minutes extra per exam but that does not take into account their needs and is often insufficient. They are arguing that exam accommodations should be based on need rather than having a set standard.

Yesterday, the Chairman and I separately met a young girl who is blind. She just sat her junior certificate examination. She had a meeting with the Ministers of State, Deputies Madigan and Rabbitte. She has lived experience of the problems she encountered in doing her junior certificate. It would be valuable to speak to people such as Niamh, who was in Leinster House yesterday, and others who have gone through junior certificate, leaving certificate or college exams to find out what are their needs. That is important.

I welcome the fact that the Minister mentioned training for staff. Some students have said they are often made to feel uncomfortable when they highlight their needs. It would be good to have training for staff. The fact that financial and health-related supports for students are insufficient has also been raised. Additional funding for the higher education access route, HEAR, and disability access route to education, DARE, programmes may be needed, as well as for mental health supports for disabled students in colleges. I refer to the issue of a diagnostic service to access disability supports for adults. A person seeking to access such supports has to pay privately for a diagnosis. Many people cannot afford to do so. To be able to avail of supports, one has to be diagnosed in the first place.

An issue raised with me is that there should be specific career guidance for disabled students at second level and third level to help them to navigate. There is often an assumption, especially in the case of students with intellectual disabilities, that they will just go into a day centre. As the Minister stated, we need to broaden how we look at things like that and have more inclusivity.

I make the point that disability officers at third level should have lived experience. That will give them a better understanding and may help them support students to advocate for themselves.

Has there been consultation with disabled persons organisations, DPOs, on all the work the Minister is doing? What he outlined in respect of the national access plan and so on is commendable. Has work been carried out with DPOs? The UNCRPD is all about the phrase "Nothing about us without us". It is important for that to be borne in mind and for there to be cross-departmental planning and co-operation.