Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I appreciate him accommodating me because I have a Commencement matter to raise at 1 p.m.

I thank Mr. Doody for that comprehensive report. I was struck by the great work done in Drumcondra with the 63 students there. We were told that 16 visiting teachers are looking after 1,379 students, which is in stark contrast to the figure we got of 38,055 young people under the age of 19 with visual impairment. I appreciate not all of them will be at the higher end of the scale, but it seems a stark contrast in figures. While I understand that other measures have been put in place for children with visual impairments, it is possible that more resources are needed.

On accessibility, I was fortunate enough to visit two new schools with the Minister, Deputy Foley. These fabulous schools - St. Paul's Secondary School in Monasterevin and St. Conleth and Mary's Primary School in Newbridge - were funded under the large-scale capital programme. I did not look at them through the lens of somebody with a visual impairment being able to navigate around a school, so I am wondering what type of provision is being made in the new large-scale capital programme schools and in the additional accommodation scheme to support students, or indeed teachers, who are visually impaired.

I have another two or three questions. Advocacy groups have spoken about the importance of data collection and publication, so I would be interested to hear about the steps that have been taken in this regard. There is a so-called specialist curriculum in the UK, other parts of Europe and the US for visually impaired students, but nothing has been done here in this respect. Do the officials have any comments on that? Historically, there has been a low level of transition of visually impaired students from second level to further and higher education.