Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for the question. I have no doubt Deputy Coveney will be asking a question in a similar vein. To be quite honest, it is one of the greatest challenges I have had since becoming Minister of State. We recognised back in 2021 the removal of therapists in May and June of that month was a levelling-down of services and there was a pause put on it. With that pause there was also funding secured for 86 therapists to be put back into schools. There is a region of the country where we have failed to get that delivered. We are still working on it and it is a priority of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and a priority for all the elected representatives in that region. To date 123 whole-time equivalents have been filled in special schools, but the problem here was it is down to understanding and roll-out. Aligning to a CDNT is not putting in a school. Aligning to a CDNT is language that does not say the school has access to the same therapist regularly.