Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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871. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the current level of engagement between her Department and the Department of Health in terms of employing psychologists and occupational therapists for national schools; her views on whether there should be greater engagement between both Departments; her views on whether it is currently unfeasible for schools to have to liaise with a number of different agencies in order to secure a national disability service for needy pupils; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41345/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that an integrated approach is adopted by the education and health sectors to target resources to the areas of greatest need and to integrate services to the greatest extent possible.

My Department works with service-providing partners in the health and disability sectors to support the co-ordinated delivery of services to families of children with special educational needs. The interdepartmental Cross-Sectoral Team, comprising of representatives of the Departments of Education and Skills, Health and Children, the National Council for Special Education and the Health Service Executive, plans for co-ordinated service delivery across the disability sector.

In addition, my Department is a member of the Health and Education Steering Committee which has been established to progress the National Programme on Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People. The Programme is based on the recommendations of the Report of the National Reference Group on Multidisciplinary Services for Children aged 5-18 Years produced by representatives of the professions and management involved in delivering multi-disciplinary services to children which is available on the HSE website www.hse.ie.

The long term goal of this Programme is to bring consistency in service delivery and a clear pathway to services for all children with disabilities according to need. Implementation of this Programme will have a positive impact on the provision of clinical services for all children requiring access to health related supports, regardless of where they live or which school they attend.

Finally, outside of the structured engagements to which I have referred, officials of my Department regularly conduct bilateral meetings with their colleagues in the Department of Health and the HSE on matters of common interest, including issues concerning the distribution of support services.