Special schools ‘set to receive therapy services’ following Cork pilot

An initiative to restore therapists to special schools after a five-year gap, which was piloted in a number of Cork schools, is to be rolled out across the country during the next school year.

The National Therapy Service got off to a troubled start in Cork schools that piloted it, as recruitment difficulties meant therapists were only on site at four of the six schools since the start of this year.

The therapists had been withdrawn in early 2020, as the HSE decided that therapists would best be delivered to children with special needs through direct intervention to the families of these children, rather than through the schools.

However, many criticised the new system, and schools in Cork such as St Killian’s Special School in Mayfield began seeking the restoration of therapists, saying that children were not being provided with essential speech, occupational, and physiotherapy in their homes.

A pilot scheme, which included four Cork schools, was announced last August, but this did not deliver therapists to the schools named until early in 2025. This was due to a shortage of therapists, leading to difficulties recruiting them to the different schools, which led to bitter rows in the Dáil. Eventually, St Killian’s Special School, which was controversially not included until the second phase of the scheme announced at the end of October, was given a once-off grant by the HSE to recruit therapists privately.

According to Cork North-West Fine Gael TD John Paul O’Shea, the introduction of the National Therapy Service for all special schools will come as a relief to families across Cork.

The TD said therapy services would begin in special schools later in the next academic year.

“The provision of these therapies in special schools will ensure that the most vulnerable children in Cork can access the services that they need,” he said.