Education provision for people with disabilities is currently framed within the dominant discourse of 'lifelong learning'. The key political agreement powering current provision to promote lifelong learning is the Lisbon Strategy, adopted in 2001 by the member states of the European Union. It is evident that the drive for a competitive knowledge based economy is fuelling the official promotion of lifelong learning and there is a real danger that social inclusion will be pushed into second place behind the dominant value of competition. This paper will examine the impact of current legislation and policy on educational provision for young people with disabilities in Ireland and the United Kingdom. A comparative approach is particularly appropriate, as Ireland has witnessed a rapid recent development in legislation, policy and provision whereas the United Kingdom has established legislation, policy and provision for many years. Ireland is in a transition phase as systemic provision is reorganised according to the recent Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (2004). In the United Kingdom legislation was an outcome of policy development and strong social movements which emerged in the mid- twentieth century: this shift towards a social model of disabilities and a rights-based provision for the education of people with special educational needs is clearly stated in highly visible policy (such as the Warnock Report) in which these Acts are embedded and in the light of which they are interpreted in the courts. However, despite this well-established legislative and policy base recent evaluations of the effectiveness of educational inclusion (Audit Commission, 2002, Ofsted, 2004) have concluded that despite significant progress certain seemingly intractable difficulties remain as barriers to the realisation of the inclusion strategy. At this critical juncture people with disabilities are assessing the effectiveness of current policy and legislation in both jurisdictions in creating a framework for effective educational inclusion and this paper attempts to incorporate their perspectives and relate their concerns.