Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)

I am one of the best people to come into the House and criticise and give out about how we are implementing or not implementing things, but in fairness, in this response, it is the first time it has been clarified for me that the three special schools in Cork have been fully staffed. That is the first time I have heard that or seen it in writing. That is to be welcomed.

The pilot scheme in Cork has worked if we have managed to fully staff it. Whatever about the outcomes for people availing of the service, the fact we have appointed all the therapists who were required in those three schools needs to be deemed as some bit of a success. I make that point, not in a condescending way. Typically, we are in here, and I was in the Chair earlier, listening to recurring issues of not getting home help for people, or the resources or money being allocated but being unable to get the staff, but in the case of the three special schools on the initial pilot scheme, we have fully staffed them, which is welcome.

The difficulty I have with the response is that it is stated we will continue to roll out the service on a phased basis. There is no end time to a phased basis. It is stated in the reply that it is commencing in 2026-2027. Are we working towards the end of the decade here? What is the target for appointing the remaining therapists?

I welcome that we are prioritising OTs and speech and language therapists in particular. It is also stated in the reply that further disciplines such as physios may be included. I am not an expert in this field. I was a teacher but I am not an expert in therapies. Will the Minister of State expand on why we are prioritising OT and speech and language over physio? That is what this answer implies.

The only request I ask the Minister of State to take back to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is to give us some roadmap for full implementation of this because, as I said, most of these families have suffered the best part of a decade of no service or, at best, little service.

It is important that we give them some type of light at the end of the tunnel.

See this speech in context