Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a very honest satisfactory reply but it is depressing because the Taoiseach answered a whole lot of matters except the question I asked him. I asked him directly about therapists. We need a step change regarding therapists in this country. I did not ask about special needs assistants. That scheme started in 1998 and thousands were employed ever since and there will be annual increases. I am talking about access to speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. We need to get those therapists into the schools and employed on the campus. We need to change the model. The Taoiseach has quoted the progressing disabilities programme to me. With respect to the progressing disabilities programme and policy, in 2014 they announced 275 additional therapists with 88 meant to be speech and language therapists. How many were recruited?

It is now 2016 and only 27 have been recruited. We took a step change in 1998 in terms of automatic responses and pupil-teacher ratios and we need a similar step change in terms of access to therapies in our schools. What is going on is a scandal and parents should not be put through any more of it.

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