Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have sat down and met everybody the Deputy spoke about just now. To recruit and get speech and language therapists into posts takes five years. It is the same in the case of occupational therapists and physiotherapists. Along with the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, I am working with the HSE on access to care. I refer to getting people off the 24-month waiting list. A plan is being devised, which I look forward to announcing with the Minister later. The Taoiseach has always spoken about early intervention and that is why he has allowed me to undertake the progressing disabilities services programme. The simple reason is that we want no child to age out of these services. We do not want children to be on one queue, only to fall off it when they turn six years old and have to join another queue. In the context of this progressing disability services strategy, this time last year there were only 30 of them. Today, I have them all reconfigured. There is no more aging out of children in this State. When children are on a waiting list, they now stay on that one waiting list.

The Deputy opened his contribution with comments regarding children waiting for autism spectrum disorder, ASD, assessments. Majella Daly is the head of disability services in Cork. I met her on all my calls with the providers. I and Ms Daly, and her team, are putting in place a comprehensive and bespoke action plan in CHO 4 to ensure that we move people off waiting lists. I thank Ms Daly and all the staff and therapists, because they are always willing to change to meet the needs. That is the case at all times. There will be a plan for the parents, not just in CHO 4, but in every CHO around the country.

We are going to cut waiting lists this year. This is my priority. I am prepared not just to rely on our recruitment process to deliver services. I am prepared to look at alternative models.

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