Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and thank them for giving us the opportunity to ask questions. As a parent of a child with special needs, I have the personal experience that has led many constituents in my county of Clare to reach out to me. They have explained or outlined the various challenges that each family has faced. The experience is individual and different for every child in every family. I appreciate that there have been many challenges in this sector, not least in the context of the reopening of schools.

My questions relate to the cohort of special educational needs students who still have not returned to school. The issue was mentioned in regard to those who are in mainstream school but who are not in special classes. I had been seeking a little more clarity on that but the Minister of State said she is not sure at this time and that the issue is involved in the review.

I want to ask specifically about meetings the Minister of State may have had with unions representing special needs assistants, SNAs, between June and December 2020. For example, can she outline how many meetings took place between June and December 2020? Are there special needs teachers and other staff in such settings to ensure that measures are taken in the event of schools closing again? Is there provision there should the case numbers increase again?

My other question concerns supporting therapists in the school inclusion model and the delivery of wraparound supports mentioned by the Minister of State in the briefing document. Specifically, it concerns speech and language therapists who have been reassigned to other duties, including contact tracing and testing. Is the Minister of State in a position to outline the overall position regarding the impact of the reassignment of HSE staff who support the delivery of special education? Can she outline how the challenge arising from this reassignment will be dealt with?

Following on from that, regressional behaviour has already been mentioned. I am interested in how the educational system will be able to support positive changes in respect of regressional behaviour or any other behavioural issues that are now presenting themselves. I will leave it at that.