Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 18 October 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism

Autism Policy and Health: Health Service Executive

Mr. Bernard O'Regan:

That subsequently progressed into a process where we agreed with the Government to provide supports based on what had been in place prior to reconfiguration. I think that is into a total of 104 special schools which will benefit. That is happening in three tranches. In the first tranche, we agreed that some staff would have that work prioritised as part of their work and that a third of the staff would be arranged that way, that a third of the staff would be recruited off panels and a third of the staff through the general recruitment. There was progress in September. About half of what we had hoped to do in September was progressed. We are currently involved with discussion around some issues with unions under the auspices of the WRC which need to progress and we hope to progress in the coming weeks in order to move on with the rest of it. But there are some industrial relations issues that we need to resolve.