Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

One of the reasons this Government quickly established the need for a therapy-in-school service, which we have now commenced and taken the decision to do, was the inadequacy of the response within the health service itself. Many CDNT teams are experiencing challenges in recruiting and retaining therapists, as well as wider general issues. The issue is actually not one of resources; it is one of capacity. Private funding was provided last year and quite a number of private therapists have been procured. The standard operating procedure model that the HSE adopted was struck down by the courts. The rationale behind it was to prioritise establishing the needs of children, rather than providing the diagnosis immediately, in order to ensure a quicker route to intervention services.

I have been informed by the HSE that it is estimated that up to 30% of assessments result in children being identified as not having a disability. It is about how to allocate resources more effectively and in a targeted way to the children who require those services as quickly as possible. That is the objective we have to focus on. What will enable us to do that in the short term more effectively than currently is the case? At the moment, the timeframe for an assessment of need could be between 37 and 90 hours. There is finite capacity in terms of therapists out there, whether in the private sector or the public sector.

Yes, we have to create more third level places. We have done that and we are going to do more of it. We have to facilitate more recruitment of therapists from overseas. CORU, the regulatory body, needs to be flexible in that regard. Mutual recognition of qualifications is a general problem because we need to supplement our own development of graduates through our third level system with graduates from overseas to get a higher number assessing and, crucially, providing services to children.

In education a line of sight is visible in terms of allocating the resources and getting visibility over the provision of services. We are not quite there yet. I have acknowledged that in Dublin we have issues with some school places. I will not be happy until 100% of children are looked after in terms of a school place for September. However, there is and has been an issue with therapists. That is why we have moved to an education model to commence with special schools, to expand beyond that and then to support the community teams as well.

In the short term, there are choices we can take to enable therapists to get to children more quickly and to be used more optimally than currently is the case for children. That is the case I am making for why I think we need legislative change along with a range of other measures. It is not to take away rights, but to provide services to children.

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