Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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1083. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of extending access to the fund for students with disabilities to all 26 further education and training programmes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31835/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD) is to provide funding to higher and further education institutions to assist them in offering supports and services to eligible students with disabilities so that they can participate on an equal basis with their peers. FSD funding of €1.942m is currently allocated to the FET sector in respect of participants on the Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) Programme.

It is not possible to identify the cost of providing the funding provision of this fund to each individual programme as significant differences exist with regard to the type and length of supports that would be needed on other programmes and the different profile of learners on each programme.

While funding from the FSD does not extend beyond PLC, there are supports available to students with disabilities on all further education programmes allocated by ETBs on a case by case basis which are included in the programme cost.