Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)

I apologise for not being present for the Minister of State's opening statement, but I read it and I know of his commitment to this whole area. I also apologise because I know he was in Limerick last Thursday visiting schools, but unfortunately I was not around on the day. I know from feedback from people in those schools that the Minister of State's visit went very well. I thank him for his commitment to that.

I wish to raise the shortage of speech and language therapists. How does the Department intend to tackle that? I know that during Covid, a number of speech and language therapists took early retirement. How do we entice people back into the system, or entice people to apply for these jobs?

How is the Department meeting the targets under Article 24 of the UNCRPD, which relates to inclusive education? I know we were behind. Could I have a rough outline of where we are now?