Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I wish to pick up on the point my colleague Deputy Verona Murphy made on the CDNTs. This comes up repeatedly. I hear from people who had services when they were being looked after by Enable Ireland but who have no services now because they were switched to a CDNT. The vacancy rate in Kildare south is 16.7%. In Kildare north, it is 35.2%. In mid-Kildare it is 15.3%. Some 250,000 people live in Kildare. Looking at the demographics, it is one of the locations with the largest number of young people. This is a brass-plate service for most people. It just does not exist.

I spoke dad who described his home as a care home rather than a family home. When he did end up getting some sort of engagement with the CDNT, it was an absolute emergency situation. There would be quite a number of injuries in the house because one child has a particular behavioural problem. I am just using this as an example. The man in question was told he could go on a course. That is what he was offered. We are totally failing here.

Is the HSE making progress on the number of vacancies? I do not see it. Is CHO 7 different? Is it worse? Is this a problem right across the country?