I welcome Felim Dunne, a guest of Senator Clonan, to the Gallery. I wish him céad míle fáilte.

It is with a heavy heart and some distress that I raise the issue of a very talented young student with disabilities who applied through the CAO in good faith for a place in the National College of Art and Design, an institution that is supposed to represent truth and beauty and the highest ethical standards.

Unfortunately, despite this student having an amazing portfolio and having exhibited and sold paintings successfully in galleries, despite those qualifications, the supports she would have expected in one of our universities were not evident when she arrived. This student was failed. She did not fail; she was failed. She was proactively failed by the National College of Art and Design in so many ways. She was failed in her first module on the course, despite the fact that the NCAD proclaims on its website to be a champion of diversity and equality. To my mind, however, and based on the information I have become aware of, it is an ableist institution. While our universities would never accept behaviour towards categories of citizens on the basis of sexism, racism or homophobia, they are very proactive in their practice of discriminatory behaviours towards disabled citizens, which is ableism. It is reprehensible.

This student was given a profile of needs assessment by an unqualified and unsupervised person, who forged the student's signature on the document and then circulated it to all the members of staff, even though it is a confidential document-----

Senator, I ask you to tread carefully with your remarks and what you are inferring. You are making a direct allegation. Bí an-chúramach, le do thoil.

Grand. I ask you to give me a few extra seconds at the end.

I will not, but-----

The family, when they became aware of this, brought it to the attention of the board and the senior leadership team of the NCAD. The Minister, the board and the senior leadership team have known for six months about this discriminatory treatment but they have not acted. Their only response was two weeks ago, when Emma O'Kelly, for RTÉ, did a story that covered it. Then they issued a bland statement that they would engage in some sort of protocol assessment. Even though third level institutions are not de facto in loco parentis for students such as my son and Felim's child, they do have a strong pastoral duty of care towards disabled citizens and to say that citizens should not be failed in this way.

I want a debate in this House with the Minister, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, to fully rehearse the responsibilities of institutions such as NCAD in terms of their commitment and supports for our disabled citizens. We should not fail a talented artist who wants to have visibility as a disabled artist in this way. It is a most reprehensible series of incidents. As a father, a parent and a carer to a university student such as this one, to me, it beggars belief that we would treat a citizen in this way.

Well said.