Ms Anne O'Rourke:

If I had a magic wand, I would have a whole team report for the speech and language therapists and OTs and, ideally, further down the line physiotherapy and other professions such as behaviour support specialists. There would be a whole team and a whole-of-school approach whereby there is training and upskilling for the whole school staff and it is not just seen as, "Johnny can't pronounce his R's so he just goes to whoever". It is a vision that looks at the needs of staff in terms of upskilling and training, collaboration and co-operation and then, as Deputy Keogh said, some classroom-based supports and support in the playground.

I would also love to see parents being brought in. There may be occasions where children need small group support outside of the classroom setting and we could bring in parents to upskill them. It is wonderful to see those supports will be put in place in schools.

During my 20 years at NEPS, I only ever had parents not turn up to meet me twice. HSE colleagues just could not believe it. If a parent or child was not in school - I think maybe twice a child was not in school when I went to see them - the school would always have something else for me to do. I never arrived at a school and was told I could go home. I was always asked to do this or that. That is one of the fantastic benefits of this. There needs to be time for training for the staff.