Dr. Niall Muldoon:

Following discussions, the Government or State made a policy decision that therapeutic services would be signposted by the Department of Education to the Department of Health and that it would not be the Department of Health's role to provide therapeutic services. That is the theory and sharing provision has created this narrative. As far as I am concerned, though, we need to get past that. The time has come to move forward. Even if we had every staff member we needed in the Department of Health or the HSE, parents would still be taking their children out of the system they know, trust and love – the school setting – and going with them as much as a whole day's travel away to reach somewhere else. In this situation, though, there is an opportunity to work with the children in the space they trust and the children do not have to miss anything. It gives a sense of comfort and well-being. The children then return to the friends they know and the teachers they trust.

We have to overcome the policy narrative and get the Department of Health to believe that the Department of Education has a role in providing this service. It has to recognise that services must be shared. The Department of Health cannot have it both ways. It cannot tell the Department of Education that the latter cannot provide the services and, when the Department of Education does provide them, not help it. This siloing is detrimental to the children at the centre of the situation.

I was astounded by the level of change in the English model that reduced the number of children so much. It showed that it could be done and that many of those children should never have been on the waiting lists, yet that is what is happening in Ireland. We can provide early intervention and quick help. Over two or three years, we will see that schools in England will need less and less support because they will become more confident, they will understand the system, they will understand their children better and they will be able to incorporate more work.

Rather than complaining about why something has not been done, if it is being done now, let us do it right and let us do it together. I urge the Department of Health to row in behind this initiative and help the Department of Education to make it happen. There will be many professionals sharing. This is a great opportunity to make a better system, possibly with just the same level of resources. As the committee saw from last week, a number of professionals are ready to join the workforce as necessary. It can be a world-class system if we work on it together.