Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this important matter. Where I agree with the Deputy is on the commitment that the State must have, and certainly this Government has, to give Harry the best possible start in life, recognising the needs he has and the support he deserves for the journey in life ahead of him.

The Government is committed to putting in places the therapists that are needed to make a difference. We recognise, of course, that in the provision of any therapy services and any social and health supports, particularly for those who have complex needs, there will always be issues. There will always be difficulties but we are committed with the funds that are available to us due to a growing economy to putting in place the supports to help Harry and to help many others.

What Deputy Doherty put to me is, what are we doing in relation to it? What we are doing, through the Health Service Executive, is putting in place a programme that will lead to the reinstatement of 136 whole-time equivalent posts for therapists that has the aim of supporting Harry and all other girls and boys across our country who deserve and need this additional support.

It is the case, as Members may be aware, that, following some engagement with staff representative bodies, the reinstatement process had been temporarily paused but over the weekend, we made further progress in relation to this issue. The HSE will continue with its efforts with a particular focus on special schools and how the right numbers of therapists can be put in place. We recognise that we have a duty to engage with Harry, to engage with his parents and to engage with all other children and parents across the country, while listening to the needs of staff and experts in this area.

The work is now under way to deliver against the 136 additional posts. This is in addition to the 85 posts that were reinstated that were announced in 2021. This work is now under way in three different phases.

For the first phase of it, a degree of reassignment happened with regard to existing HSE staff to prioritise these particular roles being filled. We are now engaging in another process that will take us up to the autumn regarding how another third of these posts, which will be 44 roles, can be filled. What we will do, in parallel to all of this, is put in place the recruitment efforts that are needed to look at how we can provide, in particular, the right physiotherapy posts that can make a difference and the right occupational therapy posts that can make a difference to those who need and who deserve additional support and help. The Government is absolutely committed to doing this.

The latest update that the Government has received from the HSE indicates that out of the 85 posts that were allocated to special schools in 2021, 55 of them have been filled. Progress has been made in filling those 55 roles. More needs to be done to get the additional 30 roles filled, and we will.

Even with the commitment that the Government has and the resources that have been made available to do this work, it is a challenge recruiting the people to do this work and getting the right people in to provide the right level of support. The case that Deputy Doherty has raised is what will remind the Government and give us the commitment that we need to continue with this work in the months ahead.

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