Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank the Minister, Deputy Foley, for her comprehensive open statement. I welcome the launch and publication of this five-year strategy. We have had strategies before but I genuinely believe that this strategy is comprehensive and meaningful. I also believe the resources are there. The mood music over the last two or three years has been positive in the sense that there is a political determination and willingness now to create a level playing pitch for people with disabilities. Ultimately, all somebody with a disability wants is equality and a level playing pitch.

We have seen significant investment across Government Departments to enable more equality for people with disabilities. As somebody with lived experience of a disability, and a serious one, I think back to when I was in school in the 1980s and early 1990s when there were no SNAs or resource teachers. I went to integrated education in County Clare, and what I had in terms of resources was a visiting teacher for the visually impaired who came twice a year. Without the support and kindness of teachers who were not SNAs or resource teachers, and who gave me extra and went above and beyond, I certainly would not have progressed through the education system in the manner in which I did.

When I went to college there was no higher education access route, HEAR, system. People had to get the points, and that was it. I was fortunate in that I came through the education system and got the points to go to college. Now, we have tens of thousands of SNAs and resource teachers employed and while there will never be enough, the position is not bad considering where we were coming from as a country. In that scenario, a lot more people will get the opportunity to go to college. If they fall short on points, the HEAR system is in place and they will get discounted marks to give them the opportunity and to create a level playing pitch for them in university and college.I would like to see more people with disabilities attend third level than what we have at present. It concerns me that the number of blind and visually impaired students who have attended third level has plateaued or, to a certain extent in some colleges, decreased over the past couple of years. I was personally involved in creating a bursary with Vision Ireland whereby many students got a €1,500 bursary to help them towards their living expenses and social expenses because, unfortunately, people with visual impairments find it more difficult to get a Saturday job than their able-bodied peers. The idea of the bursary was to try to give them some sort of equality in that sense. I am glad to say that many business people in this country have responded positively to the various fundraising initiatives Vision Ireland and I have organised to try to fund the bursary. It is €1,500 a year for four years, which is actually €6,000. I am delighted to have had in Leinster House over the past three or four years some of the people who received the bursary and have come through the system. It was launched officially by the former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. I have to say, it is one of the initiatives I am very happy about.

What also concerns me is a situation whereby a student gets the points or gets to college and gets a degree but then struggles when it comes to getting a placement, an internship and, ultimately, employment. It is very concerning to have 83% of people with disabilities still be reliant on forms of welfare. We are an outlier when it comes to our European colleagues on that.

I thought I had eight minutes but obviously I only have four. Sadly, I could speak quite a lot on this topic but I will conclude. This strategy is extremely important for creating the type of society we all want to see and we all want to live in, one that people with disabilities want to live in as well. The in-built reporting mechanisms, whereby the Taoiseach chairs the review mechanism, is extremely important. Strategies are all very well but it is the deliverables that are important. I wish the Minister of State the very best with this extremely important portfolio.