I thank the Deputy for her correspondence.
The provision of clinical therapy supports to children, including Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy, is the responsibility of the HSE, through Primary Care or the Children’s Network Disability Teams (CDNT).
Through the Progressing Disability Services Oversight Group, the Department of Education is working with the Department of Health, DCEDIY and the HSE to develop and strengthen more coherent structures to enable children and young people to access therapeutic supports, including those who attend special schools.
As a result of this engagement, and as you may be aware, Phase 1 of the enhanced in-school therapy supports pilot commenced in September 2024, in six schools in the Cork and Dublin. An additional ten schools were announced as part of the pilot on 8th November 2024, with phased onboarding of schools to the pilot over the course of the 2024/2025 academic year.
This integrated pilot programme will see the delivery of enhanced in-school therapy supports provided by the HSE’s Children’s Disability Network Teams and will be supported by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). This pilot supplements existing services being provided through Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs).
Officials from my department have been liaising with our colleagues in DCEDIY and The Health Service Executive (HSE) who have advised that all six schools in Phase 1 have filled most of the therapy posts assigned as part of the pilot. This includes three of the Cork area schools and one of the Dublin area schools in Phase 1, who have now filled all therapy posts allocated as part of the pilot.
All schools in Phase 1 of the pilot are receiving some provision of additional in-school therapy supports, with recruitment efforts ongoing by HSE and the Lead agencies to fill outstanding posts, to scale up provision to targeted levels. The recruitment campaigns for Phase 1 schools are at various stages, with some staff due to commence in post and others at a late stage in the recruitment process.
The ten schools in Phase 2 of the pilot will come on board on a phased basis in 2025, with recruitment to these schools in the early stages. While recruitment efforts are ongoing, the children in each of the sixteen special schools continue to receive supports through their local CDNT.
A detailed evaluation of the pilot programme will inform the future development of policy in both education and health provision. Any future extension of this pilot will be a matter for Government.
My Department will continue to support the NCSE and schools through the provision of the necessary funding and capital investment to ensure all children are successful in accessing an education.
