Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are two groups specifically providing the service for children with disabilities. One is the community disability network teams through the progressing disability services strategy and the other is what we would consider to be normal primary care teams. The hundreds of vacant posts are in the area of progressing disability services. They are being filled but we need to do so as quickly as possible. As regards primary care, I am delighted to be able to say that we have sanctioned 3,500 staff across the country in enhanced community care programmes. More than 1,600 of them have now been recruited and over 500 more are at an advanced stage. Nearly 80% of the allocated new developments posts in CHO 1, which includes Cavan-Monaghan, the area represented by the Deputy, have been filled.

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