Employment Rights
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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James Lawless (FF), Kildare North

I can give a very good answer in a minute or I can give the Deputy an answer off the top of my head right away. I do have any prepared answers left. We are beyond the range of questions that are normally reached.
I am very much aware of that situation. I have met the group with the Deputy in Leinster |House and we have had some good conversations. A disability demonstration project is under way in my Department, the purpose of which is to fathom the appropriate level of supports available to adult learners within the third level and further education system.
It may not be a direct correlation to perhaps an SNA-type role that we would see within the second level or primary school system because there has to be a degree of autonomy, dignity and recognition that the young adult may not be as keen to have a companion at all times in a way that a student at a junior level might. The actual nature and parameters of it are a little bit complex and require understanding.
There are multiple other supports from assistive technology through to different schemes. I increased the student assistance fund to €19 million this year, the highest it has ever been. It has a discretionary allocation within it that welfare officers and access officers in colleges can use to support students with a particular need. I appreciate that the question the Deputy is asking goes to the workers of his constituency, and the wider group whom I have met and engaged with. My proposal is to engage with the Deputy offline on that in terms of the latest development. It has been through the WRC, as he mentioned. I do not want to say too much on the Dáil record for fear of interfering with the industrial relations process, but we might engage on that offline.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23