Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 July 2026
306. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Education and Youth to acknowledge the financial burden on families who are paying privately for essential services (such as speech and language therapy), and whether additional supports can be provided where HSE services are not meeting demand. [50400/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn line with the programme for government commitment, the Education Therapy Service (ETS) has been established as a critical and important support for children and young people in their school environment.
The ETS will be delivered by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and is an additional support for children with special education needs. It is to compliment and not replace existing children’s health and disability services delivered through the HSE and other agencies. The delivery of health and social care services in a family centred manner remain within the remit of the existing children’s services. The ETS will provide supports to children and young people in their school environment focused on educationally relevant outcomes such as participation and engagement in their school environment.
On 6th February 2026, the Department of Education and Youth announced the phased rollout of ETS. It is important to highlight that this is the initial phase of the ETS rollout which will occur on a phased basis with a wider roll-out to further special schools within the 2026/2027 school year and a new initiative which will see all schools benefit in the coming years.
The initial phase of the ETS will commence in 45 special schools in this school year. The initial clusters will be based in Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Louth, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.
As part of the ETS rollout and development, officials in my department will continue to engage with relevant departments and agencies on the alignment of resources, integrated working and the costings, including the funding of resources for occupational and speech and language therapy supports, associated with delivering this programme of work.
The ETS will develop an embedded therapy service which will ensure the development of robust relationships between therapist and teachers, allowing for co-design, joint problem solving and consistency. An embedded therapy service also provides the opportunity for consistent collaboration with parents and other service providers such as CDNTs and Primary Care.
In addition to the ETS, the NCSE has developed an education-based therapy support service known as the ETSS. The ETSS was established in June 2024 within the NCSE and initially comprised of 39 therapists, providing 2 strands of support, Regional Therapy and Sustained In-School Therapy to both mainstream and special schools.
Sustained in-school support (SIT) is provided to schools for a defined period of 18-24 months in line with the School Inclusion Model.
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, with a focus on whole school (Tier 1) and targeted/school support levels (Tier 2) of a multi-tiered system of support. Regional Therapy seminars are available nationally for the 2025/2026 school year.
Supporting the provision of appropriate education to children and young people with additional needs, through a 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, is a key priority for my department.
