St Ita’s and St Joseph’s School in Tralee.MINISTER for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton, and Minister for Special Education and Inclusion, Michael Moynihan, have today announced the expansion of the Education Therapy Service (ETS), with three special schools in Kerry to benefit from the service.
Students attending St Ita’s and St Joseph’s special school in Tralee, Nano Nagle special school in Listowel and St Francis special school in Beaufort will have access to speech and language therapists and occupational therapists on the school premises.
In line with available therapy resources, it is envisaged that these schools will have access to therapy supports by the end of the first school term of the 2026/27 academic year.
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The announcement has been welcomed by Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Kerry T.D Norma Foley and Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry Michael Cahill.
The Education Therapy Service is designed to supplement, not replace, existing children’s health and disability services in primary care, Children’s Disability Network Teams and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
The service is being delivered by the National Council for Special Education. It recently completed a recruitment campaign for 90 Occupational Therapists and Speech and Language Therapists.
The first cohort of therapists were recruited in May this year, with further therapists continuing to join over the coming months.
