Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Mr. Mullaniff, Ms Doherty and Ms O'Dwyer. It is important we have the opportunity to have this type of engagement with them. I am conscious that the NCBI looks after 18,500 people within the cohort around the country. Reading their statement and submission, I wonder how many of those are in the category we are now looking at, when it comes to primary, secondary and third level education. It was mentioned that of those who go on to higher education two thirds do arts and only one third go on to STEM. That is obviously a challenge. One of the statistics stated that 75% of people who are blind or visually impaired are not working. That has to be a huge concern. I am also a member of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters. It is something that rears its head all of the time there, in terms of a group of people who have so much potential and so much to offer. They are people who want to live independent lives and have their own salary. Will the witnesses speak to that a little more? Is there is a geographical disparity in the availability of resources throughout the country? Do we have that postcode lottery we often talk about in the context of disability? I congratulate the NCBI on the Bookshare Ireland initiative. It sounds great and certainly deserves support. Finally, I was not clear about the summer provision scheme. What would need to be done in terms of accessibility that could be helpful to those represented by the NCBI?