Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

-----but the Deputy never asks it because he does not want to fall out with anybody, which is understandable coming from the Opposition. There are issues in terms of how we deal with therapists. We have set up a new in-school therapy service for children in special schools that will start in September. We have already allocated money for that additional to the Estimate that was provided. That will be significant. Recruitment is increasing significantly for the CDNT teams in terms of recruitment of therapists and filling more posts but we want to increase upon that in 2025 and 2026. We are dramatically ramping up places, and have been for quite some time, in our colleges to produce more therapists to come out on an annual basis. We do need to look at how we deploy therapists. That is why we have said here in the House that we want to bring in legislation to prioritise access to therapies and amend the existing situation pertaining to assessment of need because that is not serving children well. We have acknowledged that.

There are issues with delays in terms of accessing vital services but we are prepared to do something about it. I would appreciate the Deputy's support in respect of that legislation when it comes before the House because it will prioritise access to services and access to therapies as opposed to waiting to get the assessment of need first and then accessing therapies. The existing legislative template has not worked in practice and, in my view, legal decisions subsequently have obliged us to act to deal with that difficult issue. The nettle has to be grasped on that to bring about an improvement in terms of how we best use our therapists in this country, because we have increased the number of therapists in employment by a lot more compared to five, six, seven or eight years ago.

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