Hildegarde Naughton

As I stated to Deputy Ó Murchú, the CDNTs workforce survey was conducted last October. That captured staffing levels across various disciplines and grades, providing a snapshot of the current workforce across the 93 teams. The 2024 CDNT workforce report is based on the outputs of the survey. The published report shows that all six regional health areas were carrying vacancies at mid-October. Ther…

I agree that far more needs to be done as regards retention and recruitment within the CDNTs. That is an absolute priority for my Department. We have under the disability action plan and the progressing disability services roadmap set out measures. I will outline a few briefly. We are supporting practice education in CDNTs. We are supporting student sponsorship programmes. There is an initiative w…

I take both Deputies' points on board and it is an absolute priority. I came from having responsibility for special education and the Minister, Deputy Foley, was Minister for Education. We are now in the Department with responsibility for disability. We have a very clear picture of the need for more therapies, access to therapies and access to assessments. That is at the forefront of the work we a…

We are looking at pay and terms and conditions. That is under way as well, as the Deputy knows. We are looking at absolutely everything. There is our national disability strategy. That will not be just the Department with responsibility for disability but every single Government Department having disability in their brief. I will be publishing that strategy before the summer recess and that is goi…

I thank speakers for their contributions today to this very important debate, which both celebrates and highlights the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women not just in Ireland but across the globe and highlights the challenges to achieving gender equality. International Women's Day has been celebrated since 1911. The theme for this year is accelerate action. It speaks vol…

Táim ag freagairt an cheist seo ar son an Aire, an Teachta McEntee. I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for raising this matter which provides me with the opportunity to clarify to the House, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy McEntee, the position regarding the Gaelcholáiste for Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8. The Department is fully supportive of and remains committed to the establishment of a Gaelcholáiste in the …

As outlined, the Department is and remains fully committed to the establishment of a Gaelcholáiste in the Dublin south city area and is working with the Edmund Rice Schools Trust on the successful transition of Synge Street CBS to a co-educational Gaelcholáiste on a phased basis from September 2026. I will ask the Minister to come back directly to the Deputy if he needs clarity on any specific que…

With whom?

I will raise that with the Minister. I cannot answer for her but I am sure everything is happening within the Department. I will relate that back.

I thank the Deputy for his question. I will be raising the matter with both Ministers. I have a response here on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Heydon. Neglect or causing unnecessary suffering to any animal is unacceptable in our society and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is fully committed to the ongoing promotion and enforcement of high animal welfare standards. The Departme…

I thank the Deputy. I will relay back to the Ministers what the Deputy has said here. In dealing with breaches of equine identification legislation the policy is to adopt a fair and proportionate approach. Authorised officers engage with keepers to ensure that they understand their responsibilities and, where potential breaches of the legislation are identified, they generally provide an opportuni…

I thank Members for their contributions on what is a very important topic. The Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that people with disabilities can live full lives with the same rights and access to services, education, transport, sport, culture, careers and means to live independently as all other citizens enjoy. Since being appointed the Minister of State with special responsibility …

The Government recognises that waiting lists for assessments of need are far too long and have a significant impact on the needs of children and their families. It should be noted that children who require services from a children's disability network team, CDNT, do not require a diagnosis or a statutory assessment of need, AON. However, it is a fact that demand for AONs has increased significantl…

The Deputy is entirely correct about the stress, frustration, worry and anger of parents out there, and I absolutely acknowledge this point. They want access to therapies for their children. In many cases, they also want a diagnosis. There is a combination of reasons why people look for assessments of need. I absolutely accept that. The administrative hubs are in CHOs 1, 4, 5, 7 and 8. Establishe…

I will certainly follow up with the HSE on that issue. What we want to do here is ensure that children and others with disabilities, including adults, are getting the therapies and services they need and require. That is my focus, that of the Minister, Deputy Foley, and of the Government. I refer to ensuring that we have the services and therapies required, be they occupational therapists, speech …

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Government is committed to providing early intervention services to children with disabilities and their families as referenced in the programme for Government. A total of €3.2 billion has been allocated for disability services in budget 2025. This is an 11.6% increase on 2024 and represents an overall increase since 2020 of €1.2 billion. This increase will…

In regard to early intervention, it is worth noting that in education, the access and inclusion model, AIM, is in place to support children with additional needs to access and meaningfully participate in early learning and childcare by providing universal supports to preschool settings generally and targeted supports based on the needs of the individual without requiring a diagnosis. The Deputy a…

I thank Deputy Farrelly for his support in this regard. My door is open as well if there are any good ideas. We do not have the monopoly on solutions and my door is fully open in that regard. This is about ongoing recruitment. We have also been looking at what else we can do. There may be people working in other disciplines within the health sector who want to become therapists and could be upski…

The HSE and lead agencies are experiencing ongoing challenges recruiting to maximum capacity in the disability sector. These challenges are reflective of issues affecting the wider health and social care sector and are impacting the ability of the HSE and disability service providers to deliver on their vital work. Ensuring that the disability sector is fully resourced is a key priority of the Gov…

I thank the Deputy, who has raised valid issues. We are supporting practice education in CDNTs. There is a student sponsorship programme. There is also an initiative whereby four years of salary are paid to new graduates over five years to support a gap year in the fifth year. We also have the development of apprenticeship programmes. At national level in response to the challenges, we have rollin…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Have we moved on to Question No. 121 in the name of Deputy Ó Murchú?

A children’s disability network team workforce survey was conducted on 16 October 2024. This survey captured staffing levels across various disciplines and grades-----

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú. I thought that was what it was. My apologies.

That is okay. It is good confusion. I thought we had moved on to the next question.

That is good. It keeps me on my toes.