Results 321-340 of 1,126,660 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:David Stanton OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh02 OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Gerald Nash OR speaker:Pippa Hackett OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh29 OR speaker:Michael McGrath OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh17 OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Gino Kenny OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh11 OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh31 OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Paul Murphy OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh09 OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Alan Kelly)

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: It depends on whether we consider autumn to end this month or next month, I suppose. We might get a written review on that. On whether orientation, mobility and life skills should be part of the school curriculum, we heard about how well this works in three counties in Munster, where it is put through the education system, and about the benefit of it. That pilot project started 20 years...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: What does Mr. Doody mean by a legacy issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Is it getting State funding or not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: The three counties in Munster.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Which Department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Mr. Doody is saying he sees this as a potential Department of children issue, yet it is his Department providing the funding.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: I understand my time is up, but to me that does not equate when there is a situation where this has been talked about for 20 years and there has been a pilot programme. It clearly seems to be working from what the stakeholders have told us and it is a really important aspect of these students' experience. I suggest if the Department of Education is funding it through that particular grant,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I reiterate that because it is extraordinary we might be looking to move that funding out of the Department of Education. If it currently is in the Department, that seems an unusual choice because we have heard from the previous speakers that it is about the experience of school and is absolutely about school life. Whether it is a legacy issue or not, we might need to look again at that. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I am sorry, but when Mr. Kenny is meeting the needs of one in four students, what he means is one in four students apply for recognition under reasonable accommodation. I am sure many of those students would say they are not reasonably accommodated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I am just looking for a timeline. I have a very small amount of time. I am just looking for a timeline of the review.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Okay. I understand it is the SEC which has the main role here, but does the Department sit on the review body?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Has Mr. Kenny seen the terms of reference?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Will they be publishing them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Does the Department expect to be a member of that group?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: The Department is not a stakeholder.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I am hugely frustrated by Mr. Kenny’s answer. The Department is not a stakeholder, and the SEC sits as an independent body within the Department. We talked at length in the previous session about the lack of joined-up thinking between the good work the Department is doing, such as introducing technology, trying to support students with mobility and trying to increase supports to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Okay, but it is still being taken to court by students for not receiving the correct supports.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Would Mr. Kenny recognise that there is a top-down departmental approach from the SEC where it is not upholding the UNCRPD and the person-centred approach that is now required and that is now actionable in the past few weeks under the optional protocol? I have formed the opinion that the Department is giving the SEC a free run on this. They are not engaging with individuals when an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Mr. Kenny is talking about the number of students, which is fine and great, and hopefully we would accommodate them all. From my side of the desk, I am receiving many complaints – not hundreds. I often hear people saying they have no idea what reasonable accommodation they will be given, that nobody will sit down with them and that nobody will talk to them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: There are students here today. Will Mr. Kenny undertake to take some of their details and forward them to the SEC for reasonable accommodation?