Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McAuliffe. He is absolutely right that it is deeply concerning. It is deeply concerning for me as a constituency Deputy to know these figures. On Monday we had a good discussion at the Cabinet committee on health about the issue and longer-term solutions for greater recruitment of staff, particularly opening up more places in third level institutions on courses to do with occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and psychology.

As Deputy McAuliffe knows, my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I have been working with the HSE on the delivery of the Progressing Disability Services roadmap. This is an indication of how we can bring improvements in the short to medium term throughout the system to issues of retention and recruitment, which are very important. What is also important is recognition that in many places at present the relationship between parents and the HSE or relevant service provider has broken down badly. This needs to be addressed. This is not just about getting people into places. There is a wider trust issue that has built up. We will work very closely with Bernard Gloster, the new chief executive of the HSE, in order to see what we can do to start to rebuild it. These basic concerns of parents are also extremely important.

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