Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is about ensuring that teachers and SNAs have the capacity to identify early children who have such needs and that children have direct access to speech and language therapists who are directly assigned to support their schools and provide a service. This is about building the capacity of the system to identify early, to support children with special speech and language needs and to do so within the school context where the maximum advantage can be secured. This is an exciting direction in which to go and it is an indication of how we can ensure that children who come to school with special needs do not just get teaching and SNAs within our schools, but also access to the other services that will allow them to fulfil their potential. This is a win-win and I do not agree with the Deputies' criticism of what has been proposed.

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