Results 6,101-6,120 of 6,598 for speaker:Michael Moynihan

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: Five schools across the country are being piloted for the 2026 school year. We have to do more than piloting because it is important. If you listen to any media reports, parents are on and they are talking about the number of letters of rejection they are getting. Going back over many decades at this stage, the CAO system for third level education was developed in a meaningful way long...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: We are monitoring all the places that we have been provided. We started off when the need was clear earlier this year and we looked at what was needed to try to make sure that we did the best we can by every child and every family. We are continuing to work on that. It is not something that is stopped on 1 September. It is something that we are very much engaging on right throughout the...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: The assessment of need comes under the Department of children and disability, but it is an aspect that has been discussed more than most at the Cabinet subcommittee on disability, with reference to how we are going to meaningfully tackle the waiting lists. The Deputy mentioned a figure and talked about it growing. The Government is desperately serious because getting an assessment of need...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: There has been a huge amount of work done at Government level because of the challenges that are there. There is a huge amount of work going on at the moment.

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: That is one of the most fundamental issues. In one of the first interviews I did after being appointed, I said we have to bring back the timelines. Last year, the deadline for parents to contact the NCSE was 1 February. This year's deadline is 1 October, which is a couple of weeks away. We hope the need will be established in a couple of weeks. We are going to work to try to ensure...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: We are getting information from SENOs and public representatives right across the country. A large number of public representatives, from all political parties and none, are hugely invested in the families of people with additional needs. We get a considerable amount of information from them, even just going along the corridor, about particular parts of the country that do not have services...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: The new section on disabilities that has been established within the Department of An Taoiseach is the lead body. The subcommittee on housing has met most often to date but the subcommittee on disability is second in that regard. That subcommittee comprises all of the Ministers and Secretaries General of the Departments, senior departmental officials, together with representatives of the...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: It was remiss of me not to talk about alternative therapies, including equine therapy. I chaired the education committee 20 years ago, and there was discussion about the horse boy method. People in the Middletown centre in the North of Ireland were talking about the information coming from Texas. We are lucky that it has been developed very successfully in Liskennett, which is between...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: We get updates. Heretofore meetings involving the NCSE, the Department of Education and Youth and ourselves to discuss special classes and working through the numbers were taking place every Wednesday. We get information as it becomes available from the Department as to which projects are progressing. Some of the schools and school authorities are reaching out and updating me on the...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: The position taken at Government level was that we would put therapists back into special schools and special classes, as well as mainstream classes. That was the fundamental decision. In the school year 2025-26, 45 special schools will be getting therapists. There are a number of pieces we need to do, including in respect of recruitment, appointments, schools and so forth. We are working...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: Yes, this year. The decision was made mid-year, even before budgets and everything else, to bring this forward. That has been done. It will be rolled out to those 45 special schools, as I said. That is the initial phase and we will continue from there.

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: Will the Deputy please reach out to me about those individual issues? We will not be turning water into wine any time soon, but we will try to help.

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: I thank Deputy Daly. There are a number of issues here. We got funding for 1,600 additional special needs assistants in the last budget. We will be working with Government again to increase that for 2026-27. I think there are 23,500 special needs assistants within the system at the moment. That has increased by 30% over the past five or six years. We are meeting the needs in it. We are...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: Going back a number of months, a huge amount of money is being spent on special education transport. That predominantly relates to children being driven long distances, getting on buses early in the day and not returning until late in the evening. Our aim is to ensure we have an inclusive education system, with children, insofar as is possible, attending schools as near as possible to them....

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: To answer the first question, the more data and information we have the better we can plan. The date of 1 October is crucially important. We need the information if we are going to do this right and have it done in a timely manner. We will work with families. The 120 SENOs, who have been embedded within the communities, will work with the families. If there are reports that are coming or...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: It is hugely important that we have the data. If we are to make changes and improve the situation as we go forward, the more data and information we have the more we can better plan into the future. For whoever is here in years to come, we have to have all the information together so we can be meaningful and reach the targets that we need.

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: The therapists are being recruited at the moment. I do not think we have any contracts issues. That work started in the past number of weeks. We will be rolling them out the minute we have them recruited and making decisions as to where those 45 schools will be.

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: It will be as early as possible in this school year. There is no point in me giving the Deputy a date unless I can stand over it. We are recruiting at the moment. We hope to have those recruitment processes finished as early as possible. When we have that in place we will not be delaying in rolling out the schools.

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: The occupational therapist, speech and language therapist and behavioural therapist will be in those 45 schools. They will empower the school communities on it. We cannot develop a system where we have a small little bit of therapies going into each place. We want to make sure there are meaningful numbers of therapists going into schools, that they are based in the schools and doing the...

Committee on Disability Matters: Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities: Discussion (17 Sep 2025)

Michael Moynihan: They might be full-time in some schools depending on the size of the school and depending on the need within the school. They will be employed by the NCSE and it will depend. If we are talking about a large special school, they will not be shared with another school. If we are talking about a small special school that is only in its infancy and starting to develop it might be shared, but...