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

I thank Deputy Wynne for her questions. I hope that I have taken a note of all of them but if I have not, she can come back to me later. There were quite a few there.

First, on contingency planning for the future, since the beginning of the pandemic there has been and is consistent engagement with our education partners at all times, including teacher and SNA unions. The Department's actions are always guided by public health advice and obviously from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC. The Department of Education is a member of the Government task force on emergency planning. It is also a member of the national emergency co-ordination group, which is the central Government platform for emergencies. That puts it into context.

There are structures in place for remote learning. However, it is important to acknowledge, as we all would, that for some students, nothing can replace in-person, in-school education. That goes without saying. The Deputy mentioned regression. One area at which the Department is looking consistently is a post-Covid world and trying to deal with the regression that students have suffered. Obviously, the summer provision will help students with special educational needs, SEN, in particular. None of us can escape the fact that many students have suffered adversely in the pandemic. It is an issue the Department is looking at consistently to see if there is something we can do about it.

On the school inclusion model, we are looking at a wraparound service and a tailored therapeutic support. It will involve occupational and speech and language therapists, as well as behaviour and crisis practitioners. It will revolutionise the process for children with special needs within the school environment. We have secured funding of €2 million for the service this year, and we hope to expand it to two community healthcare organisation, CHO, areas. The pilot was based in CHO 7, covering south-west Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow. There is funding in place to secure 80 speech and language and occupational therapists and 30 educational psychologists. We are not going to step on the toes of the HSE in any way and we are working with the HSE at the moment. This wraparound service is not in lieu of HSE therapy which falls under the remit of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. It is a complimentary service. We are currently recruiting the therapists for this service. Obviously, the process has been slowed down, to a certain degree, by Covid-19. We must be careful that the Department and the HSE are not recruiting from the same pool of therapists. We want to ensure that there are enough therapists for everybody. I believe that answers most of the Deputy's questions.