Dr. Fidelma Brady:

I will echo Ms McDonagh and Mr. Harris’s comments about the forum. In recent years, the forum has just reacted. There is a new circular or announcement, so the forum comes back, we are flat out for a couple of weeks and then the forum suddenly falls away again. The forum needs a more specific role.

This issue relates to the circular’s consultation phase and what was missed by the Department of Education in just launching the circular. We appreciate that the Department has to consult boards of management, unions and so on, but as Deputy Ó Ríordáin said, these children have no voice. We are essentially the voice for these children. Their teachers have their unions and the boards of management have a voice in their management bodies, but this cohort of young people with specific needs has no voice. We are just three of the organisations that work with disability organisations nationally. We are their voice, yet we are not consulted with or asked anything. Had we been asked about this circular long ago, we would not be here talking about it.