Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also pay tribute to the chair of the committee, Senator Carrigy. I can only imagine the number of issues the committee must be dealing with, given the delays in assessment, accessing therapies and everything, so it is great to see such a comprehensive report. It is always great when there is cross-party co-operation and engagement on a committee.

I will focus on three key areas. One is the expansion of the programme to as many students as possible. Some access summer provision in a home setting but my experience is mainly with people accessing it in a school setting and who find it excellent. Access is the key. If children qualify, can they find a space? As has been said by others, home support is given if they cannot get into a school space but the school setting is the best environment for the children and parents alike. It allows the children's routine to continue and prevents regression. It is just different for a lot of kids to be in their own home environment. School presents a different environment. It is good to continue in that setting.

I apologise but I missed the start of the Minister of State's speech. Did she say whether any of these recommendations will be implemented for this summer? We are just into February. We all know that time flies and that, before we know it, we will be into the summer of 2023. I apologise if I missed such a commitment being made but I hope that is what we will see.

My second point is on something Deputy Tully touched on, which is expanding the pool of staff. We need to get a bit more creative in increasing the pool of staff we could tap into. It may not have to only be teachers and SNAs. I do not mean to take away from the very good work they do but we need to start looking at staffing because it is clearly an issue.

There is also the matter of the time allocated for the programme. The maximum time should be given. From all of the studies and research, and anecdotally from parents, we know that children do best when they are in that routine and in that space. Over the years, and particularly during the Covid pandemic, a number of special schools have had significant issues preventing them from providing the programme. Sometimes the reason relates to a lack of staff but we need to call out some schools that refuse to engage in the programme for whatever reason. They just do not seem to want to get involved. We do not want a situation in which schools are forced into this. That would never be a good situation for anybody. However, there needs to be strict criteria. There need to be strict grounds as to why a school does not provide this programme, because it is beneficial.

Again on the staffing element, the recommendations from the committee need to be taken on board. I would like to know whether it will be possible for key elements of this to be in place for this summer because that is crucial. Parents are already battling on many fronts. This is just one small element. They are trying to get a school place, transport to the school, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. The same set of parents are fighting all of these individual battles over and over again. It is important for us to secure some of these for this summer and to give that reassurance to parents.

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