Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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383. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to intervene to provide adequate speech and language therapy services at a school (details supplied), to stop the erosion of this much needed resource at the school, which has been consistently downgraded over the last number of years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15106/25]

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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419. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to confirm the continuation of the speech and language class at a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15572/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 383 and 419 together.

This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs.

Through the accelerated provision of additional special class and special school places over recent years, there are now just over 28,000 students enrolled in special classes and special schools. Budget 2025 provides for an additional 2,700 specialist places, made up of 400 new special class and 300 additional special school places.

Students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) have access to speech therapy services either through the speech and language therapy services provided in special class settings by the Health Service Executive (HSE), or through the HSE’s primary care service. There are currently 63 special classes nationwide for children with a DLD or SSD. The provision of therapy services for the classes referred to by the Deputy is a matter primarily for the HSE.

As the HSE provide speech and language therapy to students in these classes the opening and retention of such classes is contingent on the availability of HSE resources. For this reason close engagement and coordination occurs among stakeholders at a local level. I have asked the NCSE to liaise with the school and provide support and advice in this regard.

Importantly, students with specific speech and language difficulties that are not enrolled in a special class may qualify for additional teaching support under the school's special education teaching support provision. 15,000 special education teachers have been provided to enable schools to achieve this. In practical terms, this means schools get a substantial additional teaching allocation to support children with special education needs who are in mainstream classes.

I recognise the importance of building the capacity of teachers in mainstream schools to meet the needs of all students. To support this, 338 places are funded each year to teachers to attend post-graduate special education needs programmes. The NCSE also offer dedicated professional learning opportunities for teachers supporting students with additional needs.

It is important to me and this Government that we build on the initiatives recently introduced to ensure that no matter where a child is enrolled they have access to the required supports to enable them to achieve their educational goals. An example of this is the Educational Therapy Support Service (ETSS) which sees 39 occupational and speech and language therapy posts embedded within the NCSE. The service is designed to build the capacity of teachers (and other school personnel as relevant) to provide as effectively as possible for the needs of all students.

While the provision of clinical therapy supports to children is the responsibility of the HSE, my department is working with the Department of Health, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality and the HSE to develop and strengthen more coherent structures to enable children and young people to access therapeutic supports across both health and education.