Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
432. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Education and Youth the level of engagement her Department has had with special schools in relation to the Education Therapy Service recruitment campaign run by the HCSE; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [71494/25]
View answer433. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Education and Youth the special schools in Mayo which will be supported under the current Education Therapy Service recruitment campaign; the levels of supports from OT, and speech and language therapists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [71496/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 432 and 433 together.
In line with the programme for government, the Education Therapy Service (ETS) has been established as an additional support for children and young people in their school environment. It is not a replacement for existing children’s services from which provision will continue. It will commence in specials schools and rollout in time to special classes and mainstream school.
It is anticipated that the service will commence in 45 special schools at a later stage in the 2025/26 school year. Further roll out of the service will occur on a phased basis with a wider roll-out in special schools commencing in the 2026/27 school year.
The selection process to identify schools for inclusion in the initial phase is ongoing and being informed by engagement with our colleagues in the HSE and the National Council of Special Education (NCSE). It is anticipated that school selection for the initial phase will be complete early in 2026 to ensure that selected schools have the opportunity to engage with the ETS prior to therapist assignment.
The recruitment campaign for therapists to the new ETS, launched on the 28th November, campaign will initially see 90 occupational therapists and speech and language therapists consisting of staff and senior grades join their therapy team. As this is a national service which will grow and expand to include all schools, it is envisioned that there will be rolling recruitment campaign commencing in 2026 covering all counties to meet the therapy needs of the children in the school system. It is envisioned that further recruitment campaigns will also include additional therapy grades including therapy managers, clinical specialists and therapy assistants.
Engagement with stakeholders across the health and education sectors, professional bodies and advocacy groups representing families, and parents is ongoing and will continue, through a number of focus groups and working groups focusing on the design and delivery of the ETS. This vital feedback will continue to inform service development and ensure alignment with existing children’s services, aiming to provide a comprehensive service for children in their school environments.
In addition, the NCSE have been developing an education -based therapy support service known as the previously as the Education Therapy Supports Service (ETSS), which will now be subsumed into the ETS. This service provides two strands of support to all schools: Sustained In-School Therapy and Regional Therapy Supports.
Sustained in-school support (SIT) is provided to schools for a defined period of 18-24 months in line with the School Inclusion Model. 22 schools in the Eastern region and 28 schools in the Western region are receiving support under SIT in the 2025/2026 school year.
Regional therapy support provides Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) with follow on/implementation support by NCSE therapists. The focus of this support is to build the capacity of schools and to embed the learning from TPL into their teaching practice, through In-school coaching and co-facilitation of interventions, strategies and resources. Regional Therapy Supports are available nationally for the 2025/2026 school year.
My Department and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.
