Professor Malcolm MacLachlan:

The Senator asked how we can address the need to recruit more speech and language therapists, in particular. One of the things we have suggested at Maynooth University is the introduction of two new postgraduate entry-level masters courses. In other jurisdictions, you can have graduate entry into two-year courses in speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. If we were to set up some more courses, we could quite rapidly train people coming in at graduate level. Within three years, we could look at the prospect of 50 new graduates, which would be annual and repeating. It is not just about the graduates; it is about making sure people work in a context in which they are supported as well.

As the committee is aware, our provision of services tends to be interdisciplinary when working in specialist teams and more uni-disciplinary in primary care settings.