Recruitment campaign ramps up as Cork schools get ready to welcome therapists

A new recruitment campaign to hire therapists to work with children with special needs in schools across the State has been launched by Education Minister Norma Foley.

It comes as a number of special schools in Cork gear up to see both speech-and-language and occupational therapists work with their pupils this January.

The recruitment campaign will see the therapists join the Educational Therapy Support Service (ETSS) which was established in June and preceded the announcement in August of a pilot scheme for the restoration of therapists to special schools after they had been withdrawn in 2020.

The recruitment campaign will see the appointment of 39 occupational and speech and language therapists as well as five behaviour practitioners on a permanent basis to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

Previously, these positions could only be filled on a temporary basis, which made it more difficult to recruit for them. In a statement, the ETSS was described as additional to existing HSE Primary Care and Children’s Disability Network Teams, which will continue to offer children one-to-one appointments with therapists.

Ms Foley said she was happy to launch the recruitment campaign.

“This represents a significant move to the rollout of a national therapy service for schools. It will ensure that schools can access the right educational supports at the right time,” she said.

As part of this recruitment campaign, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is advertising to fill a number of staff and senior grade occupational therapy and speech and language therapy posts.

The positions are being advertised now with a closing date of January 30. Salaries are in line with the HSE consolidated pay scales (October 2024) for therapy grades.

According to Cork North Central Sinn Féin TD, Thomas Gould, the recruitment campaign should not be about “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, and described it as long overdue.

“Every day these children miss out on therapies means they don’t reach their full potential — this is what the parents are saying, this is what the schools are saying, and no one knows their children as well as their parents,” he said.