Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

It was remiss of me not to talk about alternative therapies, including equine therapy. I chaired the education committee 20 years ago, and there was discussion about the horse boy method. People in the Middletown centre in the North of Ireland were talking about the information coming from Texas. We are lucky that it has been developed very successfully in Liskennett, which is between Limerick and Charleville. The people there would be the experts on it. David Doyle has put considerable effort into it, and it is highly beneficial.

The system has been slow in accepting that this is a really meaningful alternative therapy and something that should be rolled out across the country. Everybody who has had experience of it is very appreciative of it and understands the methods involved. The science behind it, including the movement and everything else, stacks up. It has very positive outcomes. Equine therapy should be available for every special class and special school. A huge amount of investment is necessary in getting horses with the right temperament and having the right facilities. However, it is something that works in a very meaningful way.

We should never underestimate the importance of the connection with nature, including animal therapy for those with additional needs. Many schools have embraced it through the use of therapeutic gardens and so forth. This is something we also need to look at in the long term.

The Deputy read out a piece there. It is outcomes that matter, and he has seen some of that. I received an email yesterday along the same lines outlining how someone had spoken for the first time in 11 years. I would love to say that I could read it into the record, but it would be beyond me to be able to keep it together while reading it because it was such a powerful piece.

The officials will liaise with the committee. We will be very open to engaging in respect of the app and the information available to SNAs and the teachers. The assistant principal officers in the Department are working with the committee on the roll-out of that. The assistant therapist is part of the educational therapist programme. Many people who are providing therapies within schools have no formal training but are superior therapists.

Because of the human beings they are, they have built those therapies and have developed that-----