Mr. Dharragh Hunt:

The last few comments have been made in relation to attitudes, discrimination and education. As UNCRPD general comment No. 4 states that inclusive education is the key driver, we have to create an inclusive society so those two things are very linked.

The EPSEN Act is being reviewed at the moment. In our view, the legislation needs to be looked at but something more fundamental than just commencing the sections of the Act that are uncommenced and tweaking and updating the legislation is needed. We are now at a point where what is missing is a vision for inclusive education. We need to clarify what we need for children and young people with disabilities and special education needs. Over the last number of years, there have been a some positive developments and there has been a huge increase in investment in special education. There have been efforts to try to resource schools through the front-loading models and the reconfiguration of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, regional teams and all of that. However, in parallel, we have had a huge increase in the number of children going to special classes. At present it is a bit unclear what the vision is for inclusive education. Work needs to be done to clarify this and establish what we want. I think that is what is required by Article 24. It is about progressive realisations. General comment No. 4 essentially is saying that states need to buy into the vision of inclusive education and there needs to be a plan. Everyone accepts that we are not going to have a fully inclusive education system next week or in a year's time, but it is about having a long-term plan for how we can move towards a more inclusive education system.