Ms Nicola Hart:

I did not bring information on employment with me today but Down Syndrome Ireland has an employment programme to support both employers and people looking for employment. Some of it comes back to the same thing. It is about getting the early intervention going and getting therapies through school, not just as a pilot programme but actually integrated into the school system. I do not know why we need pilots for everything. Some 80% of children in Australia get their therapy in school. Why are we still putting children out? Why are we not employing therapists in education? That then hopefully steers people onto a pathway where they may be looking towards further education. We are working with the ETBs to get more accessible courses and some of the Down Syndrome Ireland courses into ETBs. Those might be courses that help develop employment skills. We would then work with employers to get easy-read contracts and other things to facilitate that process. It all starts at the beginning with getting the basics right.