Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That point about integration between health supports health supports provided through my Department and the HSE and education supports provided through the Department of Education and the NCSE is very important. What I have seen in the new Cabinet committee on children and education and disability is we have those opportunities to ensure we are able to address the gaps which results in children falling between two stools. One of the things I have been able to do concerns the data my Department has about the number of children who have AIM support in an area, which is early intervention in preschool. That data was not going to the NCSE or the HSE and it is a really important pointer. There are maybe 30 kids in Blanchardstown who get AIM-level support. Many of those are probably going to need an ASD class or indeed a special school when they move on to primary school. That information was not being exchanged and it is now. We have put in place a data exchange agreement and, because we are bringing the two Departments closer together, we are seeing where those gaps are. In that case it was to do with information, but we can do it with access to assistive technology as well.

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