Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to stress that the school inclusion modelvis-à-vis the therapeutic supports it will provide in school is not in lieu of HSE therapeutic supports but is to complement them. I am working on the assessments and waiting times for those assessments with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte.

The Deputy has referred to the selection of a region and specifically mentioned Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and Cavan. To know what the working group will take into account in terms of criteria, it may be helpful for the Deputy if I outline some of those. For an in-school therapy model in an urban and rural location, the area should be able to provide for a broad representative sample of schools and the region should be accessible to be supported from management services. There must also be capacity to recruit sufficient speech and language and occupational therapists. There must be a minimisation of travel time and clusters of schools can be established within a defined region.

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