Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We spoke about CDNTs earlier in a question I raised. To give the Minister a further prospective on CHO4, which is my area, it has a caseload of 555 children and the number of staff available is 13.5%. There is a vacancy rate of 38%. The number of therapeutic hours available according to a report issued recently stands at 5,815 per annum. The end result is that there is a mere 10.4 hours are available per child per year. This is completely and utterly unsustainable no matter what way we look at it. We are trying to be of assistance to the Minister in trying to tackle this issue. Ultimately it is about children and young adults. Until such time as the issues of recruitment, retention and the restoration of parity of esteem and pay parity between section 39 organisations and the HSE are dealt with we will continue to have these challenges.

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