An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Gareth Scahill (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I wish to be associated with the congratulations to Deputies Seán Kyne and Daniel Ennis.
I will highlight the issue of access to education for people with disabilities. We have a focus on the WorkAbility programme, a major initiative running through to 2028, which has a budget of approximately €36 million. It is designed to help people with disabilities transition to education, training and employment. As well as this, we have a focus on the higher education access programme, the national access plan, which aims to further increase the proportion of students with disabilities entering third level education. I have been made aware of an issue whereby students with disabilities are able to complete up to level 5 qualifications. Level 5 has been identified as putting students in an excellent position to transition to apprenticeships, yet in order for people with disabilities to go onto an apprenticeship programme they have to give up their disability allowance. This puts them at a distinct disadvantage. When they give up an initiative like this it is very hard to get it back. I call on the House to have a discussion on access to education for people with disabilities.
To follow on from what some previous speakers said, I also acknowledge Jordan and Cian Adams from the FTD Brothers. I ran with them when they were in Roscommon. Senator Boyle brought up Duchenne muscular dystrophy and trying to get givinostat medication. When the FTD Brothers were in Roscommon, the Join Our Boys Trust charity was their local charity of choice to which they gave some of the funds they raised. It supports two young boys with Duchenne. As Senator Boyle highlighted, time is muscle and we need to act on it fast. I welcome the fact the manufacturers have applied for a licence for recognition in Ireland but we need to speed up the process.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26