Ms Anna Shakespeare:

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to present to the committee this evening I am the chief executive of Pobal and am joined by my colleagues, Delia Goodman, the national manager of Better Start, and Paul Skinnader, the director of social inclusion and employment operations.

As the committee will be aware, Pobal works on behalf of Government to support communities and local organisations towards achieving social inclusion and community development. We provide grant management and support services to 41 programmes in the areas of social inclusion and employment and early years and young people. We administer these programmes on behalf of seven Government Departments and a number of EU bodies.

As a company, our vision is to create an equal and inclusive society in partnership with Government and communities. As an agency working with disadvantaged communities nationwide, including individuals and families with a disability, we are really grateful for this opportunity to consider the role local structures can play in ensuring participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities. As time is limited, I will focus on a few key areas of opportunity grounded in our programmatic data.

Regarding Articles 24 and 7, which relate to education and children, Pobal recognises that ensuring full participation of people with disabilities in their communities necessitates person-centred and inclusive services from childhood onwards. The right to education is a prerequisite for the exercise of many other rights under the convention. Since its inception in 2016, the access and inclusion model, a policy initiative of the Department of children that is implemented by Pobal, has sought to provide an inclusive environment and ensure that all children with disabilities can benefit from high quality early learning and care in the community alongside their peers. One factor that has been critical to the success of AIM is that it takes a child-centred and needs-based approach and does not require a medical diagnosis. This has been really successful in supporting the inclusion and meaningful participation of children with disabilities in mainstream preschool, enabling timely targeted supports to be delivered to almost 30,000 young Irish children to date. An independent evaluation of this programme has demonstrated its effectiveness, notwithstanding its identification of areas for improvement, which is normal in any evaluation, and there are plans to extend the programme into full-day care in September 2024. My colleague, Ms Goodman, can tell the committee a little bit more about that.

Moving to Articles 19 and 30, which relate to independent living, community inclusion and participation in cultural life, community development work is vital in ensuring that our communities are liveable and accessible spaces for everyone, including men, women and children with disabilities. Programmes like the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, with which many committee members will be familiar, and the community services programme are important levers for inclusion at a local level and can provide a solid foundation for more targeted work in a given locality or sector.

SICAP is designed to ensure partnership with local communities, relevant stakeholders and State agencies. Some 421 community groups supported by SICAP worked with people with disabilities in the programme period of 2018 to 2023. Alongside this, approximately 11,000 SICAP participants were individuals with disabilities. The supports provided are again needs-based and include practical supports like day-to-day money management skills training, creativity workshops and employment and training. For new communities, the new Irish, SICAP has also played an important signposting role as those families try to navigate local disability services.

Regarding Article 27, which relates to work and employment, as the committee will be more than aware, Ireland has one of the lowest rates of employment for people with disabilities in the EU and the EU’s largest disability employment gap.

Targeted employability support programmes, such as the ability programme and the forthcoming workability programme, are critical for creating opportunities for disabled people to progress into education and training while also enhancing communication skills and confidence. Crucially, they are also effective for enhancing employers' understanding of the benefits associated with equality, diversity and inclusion and the embedding of good practice.

In summary, there are specific approaches which can support the implementation of the UNCRPD at a local level. We know broader social inclusion programmes play a role in building capacity and inclusion at a local level. Alongside these, however, our learning is there is a need for targeted and tailored supports to enable people to be successful.

Partnership is central to developing community-based inclusion. The approaches outlined in the opening statement are underpinned by local collaboration between all stakeholders, community, voluntary and statutory, and with consultation and implementation with people with disabilities being key. This collaboration enables significant synergies between programmes at local level and can be an important lever for the convention and its successful implementation.

Finally, it is of critical importance for this committee to consider the disproportionate levels of disabilities across communities in Ireland, which is recent information from a Pobal perspective. Using the Pobal HP deprivation index and the Central Statistics Office data, we have examined disability rates nationwide and those living in very disadvantaged areas are twice as likely to have a disability as their peers in very affluent areas. That is a stark finding and while stark, it provides an opportunity for us to consider place-based targeted interventions and resources to be directed to where they will be most effective. Pobal is committed to working with the Government, State agencies and communities to ensure full equality and inclusion for people with disabilities. My colleagues and I are more than happy to assist the committee and take any questions that it might have on the information presented in the supporting documents.