Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions so far. I have a few questions. The witnesses talking about wanting to roll out the SIM model. The Department's written submission states:

... we are currently working with NCSE on a proposal to expand the in-school therapy element of the SIM programme. As an initial step, the proposal involves using the current allocation of therapist posts to support schools across the rest of the NCSE ... Officials in the Department are engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in that regard.

Is that a budgetary issue or has money been provided in this year's budget to do this?

Ms Mannion said that another 50 educational psychologists are going to be taken on and that the recruitment process in this regard has been completed. How many of the 50 are in place?

We all get things into our constituency offices from people who have issues. I know a family who have a child who will be finishing national school next June, with the help of God, and then going on to secondary school. The child is not fit to go into a mainstream secondary school but there are no special secondary schools that have the capacity to take on additional numbers. They are oversubscribed at the moment. I have had representations from the parents and also from the schoolteachers who have been engaging with the child. They are saying that if this child is not taken care of properly, she will end up opting out of education within six months because she will not be able to cope in a mainstream secondary school. How do we deal with that? How do the parents deal with that? I am talking in general, rather than the specifics of it.

The last aspect is about education and language. We give an awful lot of exemptions from studying to people now. Are we excluding people with disabilities from learning Irish by whatever means, or whatever limited means, they can? It is an opt-out, rather than training people to teach them whatever element of Irish they can take on board. We are leaving them out. There is a policy document generated by a number of groups, including Conradh na Gaeilge. It is called a policy for Irish in the education system from early childhood education to third level and applies right across the board. Are the officials familiar with it and engaging with it?

My last question is a simple one. Why do we call schools "special schools". A fine school has been built in Tuam, St. Oliver's, which opened two years ago. It is a brilliant school. Up on the wall is "Special School". It is a reminder to parents going in every day. It is about the connotations. Is that something that is just there? Has anyone ever asked the officials before why we use the term "special school"? Why do we not just say "St. Oliver's School" as opposed to "St. Oliver's Special School", or any other special school?