Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

I will begin by speaking about the decision in relation to therapists within the education system. There were therapists within the education system going back over many years. When the therapists were in the special schools, the staff said they were empowered by having therapists on site. The decision to put the therapists back into the education system was the correct one. It will take a huge volume of work because we have a shortage of therapists. The Department of further education has increased the number of therapists who are being trained in our third level education systems at the moment.

The second thing is that CORU must be streamlined to ensure we have a faster recognition or registration of people who want to come from abroad to work in Ireland as occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. We have developed a cumbersome system over the years and we have to streamline it. There is serious commitment at Government level to streamline it to get more therapists in. There is no point in me talking about the need to have therapists within schools, special schools and special classes if we do not have the physical therapists. One of the major aims of the Government is to make sure we have the therapists. We are working to that.

With regard to Article 24 of the UNCRPD and inclusive education, it is hugely important that we have inclusivity in every level of education. We have to be mindful, however, that not every education setting is suitable for individuals. There are people with very complex needs. I visited such a setting the last day. I was hugely empowered by the commitment to education shown by the teachers, community groups and the SNAs within the education system. As a matter of fact, there was one woman who was actually physically putting a chair together in the special school. She gave me a sense of the commitment and passion these people have in providing education and how they love their job in encouraging and helping people with additional needs. I was really inspired. I was walking down the corridor and I saw her with a measuring tape in her hand. I salute people in that regard.

We have to be mindful that we have developed additional special classes. This year, we have five extra special schools. We are looking at having more special schools for next year. We have a huge amount of work ongoing in that regard. By 1 October 2025, we will know the level of need that is going to be there for 2026 and 2027.

Another point with regard to Article 24 is that 97% of our children are educated within mainstream schools. Where the next 3% are concerned, we have to make sure that it is right for pupils and families.

Sometimes, special schools were at the end of the laneway or were separate to other educational systems. In some of the places we have seen, the campuses encompass the primary school, the special school and the post-primary school on the one site. That is the ideal. The Holy Family school and the Christian Brothers school in Charleville are almost on the same site and they work in collaboration. While that collaboration may not be in any meaningful headline kind of way, they work in collaboration and affect one another. It is hugely important to bring that model in so that children with additional needs are being supported and are part of the school community. Article 24 is very much mindful of that. The one thing that we have to do is ensure the campuses are built. The Department has taken decisions that require special classes to be part of any ongoing school building works. That is important.

We were in Scotland earlier this year, with Mr. Doody and others. A campus was built there where the primary school and the special school were together. There was a little forest between them that both schools could use. The smallest of things can make the greatest of difference to children with additional needs right across the spectrum.