Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. There are two specific points I ask him to bring to the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, after this debate. First, a school in Enniscorthy is being provided grants to source the therapies that are needed locally through the private sector. Can such an approach be considered for Carrigaline Community Special School? It has been on the go for two years now and it has not received anything. Second, there is the issue of having a nurse on site, which is not currently the case. Obviously, that presents challenges with catheters and so on.

The Minister of State referred to the commitment of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. I do not dispute that one bit but that is not the issue here. The parents believe the Minister of State she is very sympathetic to what they are trying to achieve. The problem is trying to get the HSE to enact what is being brought forward by the Minister of State. A big part of the problem is making sure the HSE is properly accountable here. My understanding is that the Minister of State walked out of a meeting recently because she was dissatisfied with what she had been told about the therapies.

This Minister of State referred in his reply to having an on-site presence for speech and language and occupational therapies in the school. "On-site presence" is a clever use of language. There is a presence but it has primarily been working with the teachers and staff, and they can do nothing to even indirectly support 44 of the 48 children who are on site. Even in the coming weeks, when one of those additional positions will be filled for one day a week it will effectively operate as a satellite for the CDNT for one day week. For the other children, that service is not available and I do not believe there is any prospect that it will be available. A model needs to be adopted similar to, although not precisely the same as, the one adopted in Danu Community Special School.

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