Tomorrow in Cork and I think here in the capital there will be a march on behalf of parents of children with special educational needs and in terms of disability services and the lack of provision there. As a Government Deputy, I will be in attendance in Cork. Recently, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I attended a meeting with the 12 principals of the special schools in Cork. Thankfully, the HSE and the Minister of State committed to reinstating all the therapist posts lost when the progressing disability services, PDS, programme came in. That was very welcome and I understand it is happening right across the country in special education settings. That said, although the advertisement of those posts is welcome, we all know that filling them is the real challenge. Can the Minister brief me on how we are going to fill them? Will it entail outsourcing, training existing staff or how are we going to fill the posts?

There is a real need across the country for increased therapy for children and young adults with special needs. It is a real shortage. The shortage is also exacerbated by the difficulty in hiring new people. My understanding is that our assessment processes are so long that many of the therapists who should be engaged in therapy provision are actually in the assessment process. We need to look at that as part of the overall approach and measures. The issue was raised, debated and discussed at a Cabinet sub-committee in recent weeks and there is a real commitment to addressing the shortfall. It is not easy. I think there may be a need for training and education of new people. There is not a pool out there. I think that is the way to go.