Mr. Teresa Maher:

I am keen to speak to the specific question. I fully agree that we constantly have to review and ask whether we are on the right path. I am the parent of a moderate to severely IQ disabled son who has Down's syndrome and is profoundly deaf. His first language is Irish Sign Language. From our family perspective and Killian's perspective, going to mainstream secondary school was the making of his life. Killian had a chequered history through school but we ended up in Ashbourne Community School to see how it would work. Killian's first lesson on his first day in school was that he could not take out his mobile telephone. His second lesson on his first day in school was that he could not rat on the other students who took out their mobile telephones. In answering this question we should ask what education is and what it is about. Why on earth would we limit the potential, aspiration or expectations of any human being?

It is true that Killian sat his leaving certificate. He became famous and got 485,000 hits on his Facebook page because he was the first student who had Down's syndrome - a moderate intellectual disability - and who was deaf to sit and pass a State examination. He got his leaving certificate applied course. It was not by accident. It was down to remarkably hard work and belief in the people around him as well as a belief that it was not about the certificate but the process and the things he would learn for life along the way. My view on education for anyone is best represented by asking, "Why not?" and that we should see what people can get from it.