James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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421. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the names and locations of schools currently in receipt of the NCSE educational therapy support service, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15649/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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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.

The ETSS 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 students. This will mean that therapists will work in classrooms with teachers to provide, for example, language programmes which have been co-designed by teachers and speech and language therapists.

The ETSS, initially, will comprise of 39 speech and language/occupational therapists embedded into the NCSE regional structure and it the ambition of the department to build this service over time to ensure that schools across the country will be able to access the support of those therapists.

The ETSS provides 2 strands of support. Strand I involves Regional Therapy Support and includes Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) seminars for both Occupational and Speech and Language Therapy, with in-school support. 111 teachers have been supported through a mixture of Teacher Professional Learning Seminars and in-school support visits in 93 schools in the Eastern region. It is planned that these supports will be available nationally for the 2025/2026 school year. Since September 2024 there have been 61 in-school visits to 43 schools.

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 Limerick has been identified as the most suitable hub for the Western region. This includes Kerry, Clare, Limerick, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.

The ETSS is available to all schools in these regions, including primary, post-primary and special schools following an application process through the NCSE.

After a robust prioritisation process 22 schools, as per the attached file, in the NCSE Eastern region were selected and are currently availing of support through Strand II and a further 212 schools were panelled to receive supports as services expand.

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 detailed above.

The Department of Education and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.

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