Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 25 October 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism

Autism Policy: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Alan Power:

To follow up on the point about the CDNTs, the challenges with recruitment are well documented. The teams are 70% full. The target for the recruitment of therapists, who are doing incredible work, is 2,080 over the 91 CDNTs. That is 23 therapists per CDNT. A CDNT is going to be looking after thousands of children. How does recruiting 23 people suffice, even if teams are fully staffed? Is that our ambition? That needs to be fully reviewed. I do not know where that figure came from. It has to be reviewed.