Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is very welcome.

Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today.

One of the first acts of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, was to open Our Lady of Hope School, Crumlin, with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. The school is a beautiful art deco school in Crumlin village and is a real flagship for what the Department can do in terms of retrofitting buildings. There is a stunning occupational therapy room and fabulous classrooms but there are no therapists in this school. Our Lady of Hope School has been open for two years. It started with 39 pupils and we are now at 43. It has nine teachers and 20 special needs assistants, SNAs; a number which is below what should be in place given that it is a special school for children with autism and additional needs. Only in the past three weeks has the school been assigned two and a half hours of psychology, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. This is two and a half hours for a school. These hours have to be spread across 43 students with hugely complex needs. I have to point out that when the school opened, it was not as a result of an overnight decision. It was a campaign of nearly eight years by parents; by two ladies mainly. Margaret Jane Lowndes and Helen Holmes started a group called the Dublin 12 campaign for autism inclusion to open this school for autism and complex needs. We have the school and it is beautiful but we do not have the therapists to complement the school. The campaign is still very much active. What is going on here? We know that the children's disability network team, CDNT, responsible for the school itself only has one psychologist, one speech and language therapist, and one occupational therapist. That is to cover the whole area outside of the school and also encompasses the school. There is a big issue here. There is obviously an issue with recruitment. This absolutely beautiful school and its beautiful pupils with complex needs is not operational. It is not working and it is really hampering the work of the teachers and that of the principal. He is doing everything he can to ensure the kids do not just come to school for a bit of babysitting but that they get the most out of their day, are learning and regulated properly, making progress, and that he can tell the parents how their kids are coming on.It is not happening at the moment without the proper supports. An occupational therapist, OT, is needed, who can say something is not working for the child and that the child needs more regulation, and who can give the expertise an OT has. We do not have that at the moment in this school. There is no guidance for the teachers. Teachers and SNAs are not OTs or speech and language therapists. They need that help.

The school is part of a pilot school inclusion model, SIM, team project but the project is about helping the parents or teachers to help the kids. It does not work when the kids do not have direct interventions. Such interventions are needed. This beautiful OT room, which probably cost the guts of €500,000 to build, is lying idle in an autism school. OT is the first port of call for a child who gets a diagnosis of autism. It beggars belief.

The bones of a fantastic school are there. It has a beautiful building, a principal who wants to make it happen, committed teachers and SNAs, and a committed community. Dublin 12 campaign for autism inclusion has not just campaigned for the school but has many services in the community like swimming lessons, after-school clubs and weekend activities. This piece is missing and it is probably one of the most important pieces, namely, therapies in the school. The Minister of State has to do something for this school to thrive.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to come before the House and discuss this. I also thank the families who work closely with her in continuously campaigning. I acknowledge the tireless work of the Dublin 12 campaign group. That group has responded practically, as the Senator said, in putting good solutions in place within the community.

Last June, I, along with the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, the Ministers, Deputies Foley, O’Gorman and Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, met the heads of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and the HSE. At that time it was Bernard O’Regan, Damien McCallion and Anne O’Connor, who has since left. I am not sticking entirely to the script because I want to give context to answer some of the Senator’s questions. It was agreed to reinstate therapists in schools. We were allocated funding of €13.5 million to reinstate 136 therapists. They were to be the priority therapists and that was to start in September. Unfortunately, the HSE had to engage again with the unions and that took some time.

The school the Senator referenced is one of four new special schools in the country. Perhaps there was not an understanding of what was in the background or the needs to be provided for. It was agreed that, at a bare minimum, 35 hours would be returned directly to the Senator’s school as a starting point. For the Senator to tell me the psychology is 2.5 hours beggars belief. Psychology in the school, at a bare minimum, was to be 12 hours. It was to get 11.5 hours of OT and 11.5 speech and language as a starting point, not an end point. The therapists were to be on site.

With regard to Our Lady of Hope in Crumlin, I am advised the school has been allocated OT and psychology and it is the same across the other four schools. Danu is another school in Dublin. Carrigaline is another school, and Rochestown as it comes on stream. That was the starting point.

It is intended the psychology posts will start in the Senator’s school on 17 April. Nobody has told me otherwise, other than what the Senator has relayed this morning. My understanding is 12 hours' psychology is to go into the Senator’s school as one third of the full-time 35 hours to start with. I will take up what the Senator has said. She is right. With the new school there is a fantastic service but it needs to be operationalised. The parents and teachers are not therapists; they will work to the guidance given to them by the trained clinician. Recruitment is a problem. There is no shying away from that but the HSE, to be fair, has gone out to doing external recruitment. I am tirelessly speaking about an assistant OT, an assistant speech and language therapist and an occupational therapist who can stay in that school, deliver therapies and be the continuous intervention required. The HSE needs to act at pace. While we need the clinicians to write up the programmes, we need the assistants to be full time in the schools. We can do that. This is the direct solution that is required. I will continue to work with the Senator in ensuring that happens.

Have I a deadline for all these therapists to be in the schools? It was supposed to have happened by the end of January. We need to see all therapists by 1 September, with a commitment to all the principals as to what they can expect to see.

Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. We will know the school is working well and has the therapists when I do not hear from it. Principals and parents do not contact me when they have the proper resources. These parents, principals and teachers now have to be not only OTs and speech and language therapists, but also advocates. That should not be the case. They need to concentrate on the kids in the class. We need to know if there is a plan for our CDNT in Crumlin. There is a huge shortfall. It is not just missing it by 50%. We are at 2.5 hours when it should be 35 hours. Something has gone dramatically wrong. Will the Minister of State look into why there is a huge disparity? Why is this school being left behind while other schools have their therapists back? It is a new school but that should not disbar it from having therapists.

I implore the Minister of State to do something for this school. It is not right to send a kid to a school who does not have the support. These are not just any children but amazing kids with complex needs. It is heartbreaking. I hate using the term “half-assed” but we have a beautiful school and do not follow through with the therapists. It beggars belief and is infuriating. The Minister of State has to do something for this school.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Of course I will. I suggest that, out of this Commencement matter, the Senator and I, the Dublin 12 group and the local HSE could set up a meeting to understand what the timeline is, what good will look like, when the Senator will see it and when the Dublin 12 campaign group will go back to being parents and not therapists.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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That is great. I thank the Minister of State. That is much appreciated.