Education Minister announces hiring of 90 therapists in 45 special schools

Kenneth Fox

The Minister for Education has announced plans to hire 90 therapists in 45 special schools across the country.

The hiring process for occupational therapists and speech and language therapists will start in the next week.

All of those are due to be appointed to special schools for the start of the 2026 school year, while the roll out of therapists for mainstream schools will happen in the future.

Speaking to Newstalk, Minister Helen McEntee, says it is vital children are not taken out of school to receive therapy: "The structure as it currently exists is not working for children.

"It is not getting directly to them and that is why we are bringing it back to this. We need to make sure that for children who spend so much time in school that we are not taking them out to another environment that is alien to them."

She said it is important that the therapist is there in school and providing them with the therapy they need.

As The Irish Times reports, she also wants a national survey of all parents of school-going and preschool children to determine what type of education they want to see for their children. This will look at the issue of patronage and what kind of school's parents want for their children.

Ms McEntee said she will also be publishing a new Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) plan to tackle educational disadvantage and take steps to address absenteeism.

“I will work with schools to reduce the costs they are facing and also work to reduce costs faced by parents, such as the cost of uniforms,” she said.

“Consultation with parents will be a key feature as I commence work to develop a new circular to tackle back-to-school costs.”

The plan also includes 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and the roll-out of free schoolbooks to all schools.

The shortage of teachers in schools is to be tackled by earlier access to permanent contracts, while allowing newly qualified teachers trained outside the State to apply for registration and complete their induction in the Republic.

There are also plans for a new common applications system for school admissions to be in place in several pilot schools in 2026, which will end the need for parents to make multiple applications to schools.