Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses mentioned the Department of Education. Is the Government listening and engaging with what the witnesses have learned as it should be? Should it be doing more? Regarding the app, what timeline are we talking about? Where do the witnesses see this? I can see benefits for students going into third-level education. I know some schools and third-level institutions have brought that in on IPads and maps etc. I know it is not the witnesses' remit but we have a shortage of professionals, including psychologists, across the country. We need our third-level institutions to make more places available across occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and psychology. I know it relates to the Minister but I would like to see the colleges coming forward with proposals for additional places because there is massive need. Over 800 fully funded positions across our children's disability network teams, CDNTs, are not filled. Even if we bring in new courses next September, it will be four and a half years down the line before these professionals come into the system so we need to look at providing more places or more graduate programmes for people who may wish to switch careers, for example, from teaching or the medical profession because there is significant need that needs to be dealt with. There are long-term negative implications for those children if they do not get the intervention they badly need. What sort of timeline are we talking about with regard to the app?