Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach agus leis an Aire as a bheith anseo inniu. I will be brief, in case my colleague comes in.

There is agreement and unity across the House on this most serious and life-changing issue for the youngest in our population. I will confine my comments to suggestions of things that are already working in communities in Meath East and can be extended. This suggestion is not in place, but why can the treatment purchase scheme and treatment abroad scheme not be extended to the purchase of the assessment of need from the private sector, with parents refunded retrospectively? If we can do it for health and operations outside the State, why can we not do it for the services of professionals within the State, to whom we have given their credentials? There are colleges of further education and training offering speech and language therapy and occupational therapy courses in Dunboyne, County Meath, for example. Can their work placements be extended to local national schools?

I wish to reference nurture rooms for time out. I am making my comments primarily about mainstream schools. We all appreciate the efforts that will be made and the allocation of therapists to special schools, but there are children in mainstream education who require interim and intermittent supports. There are also wellbeing classes that can be operated that are already in existence, for example, in St. James's in Dublin 8. I can provide the Minister of State with a list of schools in County Meath. There is a school where there is a practitioner - a primary school teacher with additional training - who is training others. Such initiatives can be implemented within two to three months.

We have the general agreement and support. What is missing? Is it competency or an attitudinal problem at senior levels within the Department? I am not saying it is, but I am asking the question. To me, that is the reason we are not moving beyond good intentions, experience, lived experience and working models and that we cannot put them into action. If it is the case that it is an attitudinal and competency problem, I am afraid that is a nettle the Minister of State and his colleagues, whose commitment I do not doubt for one minute, must grasp. As others have said, this is a repetitive subject. Children's futures cannot wait because of incompetency, if that is the case.

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