Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I had to speak in the Dáil but I was here for most of the presentations. I thank the witnesses for sharing their experiences with us. I raised the issue in the Dáil with the Tánaiste. A census of the numbers across the CDNTs for 2022 is out this week. It makes dismal reading. It reveals a 43% vacancy rate across all CHOs with a vacancy rate as high as 65% in some teams. I am very concerned. The HSE needs a plan. This is a crisis, the Government needs to be pushing this and the HSE needs to sit down with the bodies that appeared before the committee the other day - the professionals who represent all the therapists. The HSE has never consulted them properly to see what the best way forward is. We need to increase the numbers going through our colleges but that will take a number of years. In the meantime, how do we help the children who need the supports right now?

We can look at recruiting from abroad. All those things need to be done. The recruitment process within the HSE is cumbersome and the HSE has done nothing to change it. The panel system does not work. It takes far too long. CORU is taking forever as well because, again, it is under-resourced. It has been given more work but fewer resources. A lot of issues need to be addressed and could be addressed to help improve things right now but this is not being done and there is no sense of urgency and crisis, which is not fair. I mentioned to the Tánaiste that we were meeting here when I was in the Dáil and that it was about families who are heartbroken because their children are being failed miserably by the current Government and the HSE.

Some witnesses mentioned the Disability Act. This Act needs to be reviewed and updated. It predates the UNCRPD in any event so it needs to be looked at through a rights-based lens but it also needs to ensure that service interventions are on a statutory footing. There is no point in having assessment of needs but no services. Somebody made a comparison with somebody going into hospital with a suspected broken arm, having it X-rayed and then being told that this is the assessment and "off you go, we won't give you any pain relief, a cast or anything else but come back to us in two years and we'll look after you.". It is the same thing.

I again thank the witnesses, many of whom I have met on different occasions in the House. It is always a pleasure to meet them and hear their stories because that keeps us focused on what we need to do. We have a lot to do but we will keep pushing and working together.