Disability Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Paula Butterly (FG), Louth

I thank the Minister of State. In that reply, there seems to be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel and some hope that funding will be found. We have young people who are halfway through a programme that could suddenly come to an end in December. At the very least, they must be allowed to participate until June in order to finish that course.
The Minister of State mentioned that special schools would come under the wing of the NCSE but what about those post-primary schools that have provided this programme and demonstrated excellent results, like Ballymakenny College in Drogheda? What will happen to them? The Minister of State mentioned that services and resources were provided through counsellors but the key factor of the WALK PEER programme is the expertise. They are there for the last two years that a participant is in school, they are there when school closes and they are there for the young people and their families up to four years after they have left school. That is a vital component and is expertise that we should not lose.
The Minister of State mentioned scalability. The WALK PEER programme acknowledges that there are scalability challenges but it has also suggested a model in which its group can act as a hub where its members' combined expertise, working alongside the school, would allow it to transition successfully over the coming years. Do we honestly believe that teachers and support staff in special schools, whom we know face daily challenges - they are stressed and stretched to the very limit - would, simply by giving them additional hours, be able to roll out the same quality service to these young people? Will they be there when the school closes? Will they be there for the four years after school? I reiterate the calls and thank the Minister of State for taking these questions to the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29