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

To answer the question very directly, I have not had a formal meeting with the Taoiseach or the Minister for Health since responsibility came over to my Department on 1 March on this specific issue. However, both myself and the Minister of State with special responsibility for disability, Deputy Rabbitte, and our officials, are engaging with all relevant Departments and stakeholders, such as the HSE and the relevant section 38 and 39 providers, on a range of issues to enhance capacity across children’s disability network teams. These measures include, probably most significantly, a revised draft of the Progressing Disability Services, PDS, roadmap, incorporating a range of measures to enhance recruitment and retention, and have been submitted to the Department for comment. A working group has been established comprising officials from my Department, the HSE, the Department of Health and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, to increase the pipeline of clinical talent to fill the more than 600 funded vacancies in the CDNTs. In partnership with the CDNT lead agencies, the HSE continues to explore a range of options to enhance the recruitment and retention of essential staff in CDNTs.

This involves exploring new solutions designed to quickly and effectively recruit clinical path staff to increase capacity, including: sponsorship of students in the final two years of training; supporting 20 clinical psychology placements annually from September 2023; identifying and progressing the option of an apprenticeship programme; and identifying and progressing the option to employ new graduates on therapy assistant grades until CORU registration has been completed.

We had a meeting of the Cabinet committee on health on Monday, of which I am a member, as are the Minister for Health, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, where we discussed the issue of recruitment into the CDNTs. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I are acutely aware that there are many challenges in the area of disability that have moved over to my Department, but we all agree that filling the posts across CDNTs is up there at the top.

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