Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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36. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the proposals she has to roll out a national therapy service in education for special schools and special classes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8600/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The development of the National Therapy Support Service is a standalone commitment in the programme for government and is a cross-department initiative. It will ensure that a coordinated approach will be employed to increase college places for health and social care professionals.

Work in regard to this important service has already been rolled out in some special schools, through enhanced in-school therapy supports pilot. This integrated pilot programme will see the delivery of enhanced in-school therapy supports provided by the HSE’s Children’s Disability Network Teams and will be supported by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). The pilot commenced in September 2024, in six schools in the Cork and Dublin. An additional ten schools were announced as part of the pilot on 8th November 2024.

The focus of this pilot is to provide the effective delivery of enhanced in-school therapy supports to children in selected special schools, managed in a coherent and collaborative manner through the relevant stakeholders. This pilot will seek to provide an integrated model of service ensuring that all stakeholders, including special schools staff, children and families have access to high quality integrated therapeutic supports in alignment with supports provided through health and social care services.

The outcomes of this pilot will inform and assist in the development of a National Therapy Service.

In addition, The Educational Therapy Support Service (ETSS) was established in June 2024. The expansion of therapy services within the NCSE is expected to build on the achievements and impacts of this element of the School Inclusion Model (SIM) pilot programme, which provided support to 75 schools as part of the pilot.

The ETSS provides 2 strands of support. Strand I involves Regional Therapy Support and includes Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) seminars with in-school support. It is planned that these supports will be available nationally for the 2025/2026 school year. The second strand, Strand II provides Sustained In-School Therapy for a period of 24 months, in line with the School Inclusion Model (SIM).

The NCSE intends to deliver Strand II of the ETSS initially, in its Eastern and Western regions. Dublin is the base for the Eastern region and 22 schools in this region are currently availing of this service. Limerick has been identified as the most suitable hub for the Western region. This includes Kerry, Clare, Limerick, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. It is planned that the Stand II will be available in the Western Region for the 2025/2026 school year.

Further recruitment within the NCSE to achieve the full complement of 39 therapists, which is currently ongoing, will assist the NCSE in the delivery and expansion of the services provided above.

The introduction of the Educational Therapy Support Service in schools is a major step forward towards the development of a National Therapy Support Service for schools.