Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. As the Chair has said, we are a time-based committee and this is our last public session. The committee has been very fortunate to have had some very interesting conversations with various different Ministers and Departments. A discussion on social protection is a good way to end the public sessions. I will focus on two specific areas in the first round of questions. Reference was made in the opening statement to the education supports that are available. In our previous public hearings we heard quite strongly from those in the education sector that in some ways, the lack of gender equality is a huge barrier when it comes to career progression. We heard from younger members who came in to speak with us that what is almost pigeon-holing of students, right back to second level schooling, has had a real impact on their careers as they go forward. From the Department's perspective, I want to focus on those education barriers.

In September, the Minister announced a fund of €2 million to support and improve employment opportunities for family carers. In relation to those education barriers, can the officials give us an idea of the training and employment supports that are available? How does the Department measure and quantify the success of these training programmes? How does the Department of Social Protection interact with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to ensure that the training available is actually what is reflected by the demand, both from the user of the training and also from the potential employer of a person coming through those employment and training programmes?

Reference was made in the opening statement to some other important issues. I want to focus on the cost of disability research project that was carried out. Has the Department conducted a budgetary exercise on the implementation of the outcome of that research project? We had heard from the Disability Federation of Ireland, Independent Living Movement Ireland, Disabled Women Ireland, and a vast array of representatives. It also came through very strongly in the citizens' assembly report that those who have a disability should be adequately supported and resourced to live independently for the duration of their lives, and the move by someone under the age of 18 to being a person over the age of 18 should be seamless: the disability does not go when a person's birthday falls and his or her age changes. What work has the Department of Social Protection carried out to ensure these clear and consistent pathways throughout the lifetime of somebody with a disability? I also want to hear about the personal assistant services.