Mr. Paul Skinnader:

I can point to maybe three. One might deal with local community groups, another will deal with individuals and the other will deal with families. I will start, perhaps, with the Offaly Local Development Company. This was in 2023. It would have supported what is called the Offaly Disability Equality Network, ODEN. It has developed its capacity with the support of SICAP, with the facilitation of space to meet advocacy. Last year, it also developed its Accessible Offaly action plan. That was after many years of work to get to a place where it now has a plan to the end of 2025. That, it is understood, would be a real catalyst for change in the county. It is very much engaged in the PPN structure and the local and community development committee structure.

Second, there are lots of case studies that we could highlight across the country where, in the stats that Anna has given, there is a range of different types of supports. In the Northside Partnership, for example, 37 people participated in its Money Made Sense programme. It worked with the St. Michael's House Horizon project and Praxis Care to deliver particular financial capability training for people aged over 18 who have intellectual disabilities. It allowed them to build their day-to-day money management skills, handling cash, digital banking etc. That allowed that particular organisation, the Northside Partnership, to develop a handbook to support this work. Certainly, the overall aim of that handbook was to assist services, parents and carers to support individuals in developing the building blocks for financial independence.

The final one is from North East West Kerry Development, a local development company that supports parents of children suspected of having a learning difficulty such as ADHD, dyslexia or a learning disability. It identified a serious access issue for children and young people around many of these services. As members are aware, due to the increasing demand to fund individual educational psychological assessments from the schools in its area, a referral system was devised to ensure they are capturing individuals who are particularly disadvantaged. It sought to target people who were disadvantaged and who had a disability. Working in collaboration with the community home school liaison team, it has also ensured that the support is directed to those most at risk of slipping through the educationally disadvantaged net. The organisation went on then to further support and maximise the funding by contracting an experienced psychologist to carry out all of the assessments to ensure the service was streamlined and consistent, and to increase efficiency, cost savings and improved quality service.

These are just three examples. There is a range of case studies, which is interesting for this national programme, SICAP, where it identifies very particularly in that case study the supports that are very much targeted, and the examples - as they relate to this committee's interest this evening - around supporting those with a disability.