Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To follow on from what the Minister said, the budget had €1.2 million for educational psychologists. They were primarily recruited for children with special needs. Most of that money would be targeted at pupils with special educational needs. On the inclusion model, the NCSE can recruit therapists directly, so the HSE is not in a position to take any therapist from children who need help most. The Deputy mentioned distance learning. The home tuition scheme is valuable for children who are not in a position to attend school. There are 20 hours for children over the age of three and ten hours for children under the age of three. The July provision helped to significantly reduce regression, so that children could get back into the school environment. Any progress reports that they had were sent on to their teachers when they started school in September.