Outcry from families leads to return of therapists to special schools

Anne Rabbitte at one of the disability services forums in Dublin and Cork in April. She confirmed on Thursday that the promised restoration of therapist posts would begin within days. Picture: Jim Coughlan

A public outcry reported in the 'Irish Examiner' has led to the restoration of therapist posts which had been removed from special schools as part of a reconfiguration of disability services. 

Some 44 of the therapists will begin work in the schools in the coming days.

Minister of state for disabilities Anne Rabbitte has confirmed that 136 new therapist appointments, at the cost of €11m, will be given to special schools this year, in addition to the further 85 posts for which funding was previously secured from Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath.

"Today, I can tell you 44 therapists are going into special schools in September," Ms Rabbitte said. “There’s another 44 going between then and the end of October. That’s 88. The parents need to know what the plan is.”

The HSE has already secured the 44 posts to begin in schools this month, she added.

Meetings with hundreds of parents in Cork and in Crumlin, Dublin, earlier this year galvanised the minister to fight for the return of therapists to special schools. They had been removed when disabilities services were reconfigured and many children lost virtually all access to therapies in the new under-staffed system including children in desperate need of them in special schools.

Ms Rabbitte said she has already started spending money from next year’s as-yet-unannounced budget to fund the 136 therapy posts, with the support of Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Mr McGrath.

Allocating the therapists to all special schools catering for 8,500 children will not deplete therapist numbers in the children’s disability network teams through which disability supports are allocated, she said.

“We have a recruitment crisis,” she said. “But I’m facing it. I’m not going to deplete my children’s disability network teams teams just to make special schools work.

I need to raise the boat for all equally. Parents are struggling. 

"Yes, it’s great, €11m for 136 therapists, but it’s only scratching at the surface of what is needed.”

More than 110,000 children are on waiting lists for speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy among others. 

None of the 91 children’s disability network teams were fully staffed according to HSE figures earlier this year and they were operating at 28% vacancy rates on average.

“If we could fill the 500 [vacant] posts and recruit the 136 new posts we’d see a seismic shift in delivery,” Ms Rabbitte said.