Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Browne for sharing his time with me. This is an important and proper debate, given that 18.5% of our population experiences some level of difficulty.

An alarming statistic stood out from the national survey of public attitudes to disability, in that only 44% of people believed that people with disabilities were treated fairly. While this is a small increase on the 2006 figure, it remains a matter of concern and must be addressed urgently.

I welcome the Minister of State's statement that this session would be a sounding board. I hope that she will take on board some of our suggestions. She also stated that the "percentage of people who said they would object if a child with intellectual disability or autism was in the same class as their child went up from 8% in 2006 to 21%". The level of support in the school system and the number of special needs assistants, SNAs, must be reviewed to ensure a sufficient level of SNAs in mainstream education. The provision of these supports in recent years was of major benefit. People would be concerned if people with special needs were not given the level of support they needed to stay in mainstream education.

I am glad the Minister of State acknowledged the great deal of good work done in recent years in terms of disability awareness. It is only proper that we learn from what we did right as well as from our mistakes.

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