Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State.

Colm Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for being available this morning to deal with this matter. It relates to Scoil Cara in Cork city. The school started off in 2011 with 30 students. It now has 72 students for 2019. This Commencement matter relates to children with special needs and the need for adequate services to be put in place. My question this morning is about the adequate provision of people who can provide therapeutic services. I understand that there is a certain guideline as regards the number of hours that should be made available for each child. The staffing levels at the moment are not adequate to provide that level of therapeutic services for these children. In fairness to them, parents are working very hard with the board of management and the principal of the school to make sure that the best possible education and support is provided for these students, but one of the key elements of the children's development is the provision of these services. I understand there has been a difficulty in getting the necessary support. I know this area covers two Departments in the sense that the Department of Education and Skills would be involved in respect of the school while the support services come under the Department of Health and the HSE. Can something be done to make sure we provide the adequate support services for these children? If we provide them now, when the children are very young, there will be huge long-term benefits. Long-term costs are also reduced when the services are produced at a very early stage. It is in that context that I am raising this issue with the Minister of State this morning. Raising it is urgent because it is important that no time is lost in providing these services.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue. On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, I am happy to provide an update to the House on therapeutic services in Scoil Cara junior school. As the Senator may be aware, Scoil Cara is one of a number of primary schools for children with autism in Cork. It was established in 2011, as outlined by the Senator, following a decision to divide Scoile Triest into a junior cycle school and a senior cycle school. Scoil Triest now provides special education to children with autism and mild to moderate intellectual disabilities who are aged 12 to 18 years. Scoil Cara provides special education to children with autism and mild to moderate learning difficulties aged five to 12 years. Both schools are under the patronage of the Brothers of Charity. The multidisciplinary supports provided to pupils of Scoil Cara include two days of speech and language therapy and two days of occupational therapy. Alongside this, psychology and physiotherapy services are provided on referral. These multidisciplinary resources were assigned to the school when it was established with 30 pupils in six classes back in 2011. However, the school now has 60 pupils in ten classes and, unfortunately, the Brothers of Charity services have not been able to increase the level of multidisciplinary support to the desired levels over the years.

As the Senator will be aware, the demand for therapy services has grown alongside significant year-on-year increases in the number of children applying for assessment, including assessment for autism spectrum disorder and disability services generally. The HSE recognises that services for school aged children with disabilities and early intervention services are paramount and need to be improved and organised more effectively. This process is well under way nationwide. HSE disability services is currently engaged in a major reconfiguration of its existing therapy resources for children with disabilities into multidisciplinary, geographically-based teams as part of its national programme on progressing disability services for children and young people aged up to 18 years. The key objective of this programme is to bring about equity of access to disability services and consistency of service delivery with a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services, regardless of where they live or the nature of the individual child's difficulties. Evidence to date from areas where this has been rolled out shows that implementation of this programme will also have a positive impact on waiting lists both for assessments and therapies. The HSE is working towards having the progressing disability services model in place in Cork by the second quarter of 2019. It is expected that this will facilitate access to therapies for all children with disabilities.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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The Senator may ask a brief supplementary question.

Colm Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I note that this programme is to be rolled out during the second quarter of 2019. I believe it is an area that should be given priority. It is very important for the children. One of the people providing therapeutic services in that school has retired or resigned and there has been difficulty in appointing a replacement. It is so important for the children. Any parent with a child with a disability works extremely hard to give that support to children. The parents are giving their support and I note that the Brothers of Charity have done a huge amount of work in this area over a long number of years. However, it is important the State gives the necessary support, especially when a school has made so much progress in a very short period in terms of expansion and the growing of services. The key element is the therapeutic service. We must ensure we have the level of service required and that it be put in place at the earliest possible date so that we do not have to wait until the third quarter for the roll out of the programme.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the opportunity to address to this issue. Anytime we focus on an issue such as this it is very welcome because it allows a very challenged HSE management and service to refocus and re-prioritise a particular service. I welcome the opportunity the Senator has given myself, the officials in the Department, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, the HSE officials and management in the Cork and Kerry community health services to refocus and reorient attention towards this issue. I appreciate the Senator's point about the second quarter of 2019 being quite a while away for a child who has a need today. Every day there is delay in the delivery of a service is to be regretted rather than celebrated. I will take his plea on board and reiterate it along the chain to see that we refocus and re-prioritise.

Funding for an additional 100 therapists for children with disabilities was announced in the budget and we look forward to that having an impact on the bigger, macro picture over time.