Ms Derval McDonagh:

There is a significant opportunity there. The summer programme needs to be seen as part of a continuum of support for children and their families. Ms Locke-Reilly, Ms Lavin and myself were speaking earlier about the need for family-centred planning with regard to supports. The reason the summer programme gets a lot of attention, as it should, is that families and children need more support in fundamental ways. There is a significant opportunity to bring other people, such as trainee therapists and therapists who want experience in the area, into the summer programme. That is a win-win situation. It is difficult to increase the number of places for therapists in third level education because you cannot get placements. Is the provision of placements as part of the summer programme not an ideal opportunity? We could encourage people to learn about disabled children, how to work with them and how to support them in ways that are rights-compliant during the summer months. It is a significant opportunity and it would be a win-win for everybody. It needs to be looked at.

I would love the summer programme to be examined in the context of the overall supports that children and families need. Sadly, the families of some children, particularly those who have higher support needs, only get the bare minimum. It is, therefore, no wonder that there are a lot of calls for the summer programme to be put in place. However, it is just one element of a bigger picture as regards supports. Regarding Ms Locke-Reilly's beautiful picture of an integrated model of support for children and families, we would love to see part of that involving looking at what the child and the family need to thrive and flourish. We all need support. There is not a family in the country that does not need support. However, for many families who do not have disabled children, many built-in supports are just taken for granted. Kids go off on sleepovers to their cousins' homes and so on. That is not possible for some children with disabilities. The State needs to build in supports for those families so that they can thrive and flourish.

Some of that involves home-based supports. Families contact Inclusion Ireland seeking respite but, when issues are teased out with them, what some are looking for is just day-to-day supports. It is about needing to go out to get the shopping or to visit your elderly mum. Things need to be built in around the family to make it work. There needs to be a broad look at that. We are going to do some work this year looking at family-centred supports, including home support and what families are really looking for when they talk about respite. Some families are looking for overnight respite but, when things are teased out with people, you would be surprised by what they need in their family life with regard to practical day-to-day supports.