Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 70: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make a statement on the Government's disability awareness programmes currently in place; and the plans he has to expand these programmes, particularly among young people. [31407/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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One of my Department's functions is the promotion of social inclusion for people with disabilities through raising awareness of disability equality and access issues. My Department has set in motion a number of initiatives aimed at achieving this goal which have proved successful over the past number of years. The following are the main activities currently undertaken by my Department in this area:

The European Commission supports events at European level to mark the UN's International Day for Persons with Disabilities. EU Governments support their own National Information Days on Disability. Ireland has held a National Information Day on Disability in each of the last nine years. This year marks the tenth National Information Day on Disabilities and my Department together with the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) will run a primary schools essay writing competition, under the theme of "Games we can all play". The aim is to get younger children thinking about people with disabilities in a positive way, through the sharing of ideas and through interaction with people with disabilities. The competition culminates in a national prize giving ceremony in Dublin and this year the winning entries will be used to supplement the revised primary schools curriculum in Physical Education.

My Department supported the production of a third television series of "Three60" in 2006. The programme, produced by Animo Communications, was shown on RTE1 between July and August of 2006. The main sponsors of the programme were FÁS, Rehab, RTE and my Department. The series, consisting of nine half-hour programmes focused on people with disabilities and their families and carers.

My Department is also supporting the production of the seventh series of the television programme "About the House". The programme is produced by Earth Horizon Productions and will consist of 13 programmes to be screened on RTE1 between September and December 2006. The "About the House" series tackles issues of accessible architectural design and the application of building regulations; it will also highlight accessibility issues such as Part M of the building regulations, adaptation and independent living for those with disabilities.