Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. All of us will know from our experience in our constituencies or from talking to parents while out and about around the country that many children are not getting the assessments they need in due time and that are others are waiting far too long for the therapies they required. Having said that, this is an area in respect of which the Government has shown huge commitment and in which it has invested considerable resources in recent years. The Deputy will know that we have a dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for special education in Deputy Madigan and a budget of almost €2 billion. We have never had so many special needs assistants, SNAs, or so many special classes in our schools. We are also setting up new special schools where necessary. In the past ten years, we have seen an enormous transformation in the level of children who are able to access special education and we see the results of that with children doing much better than they would have if they were born ten, 20 or 30 years ago because of the enormous investment that has been made.

I know what is being done falls short in lots of different areas. That is particularly the case when it comes to providing speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and the services that children need. The sooner we get them, the better the outcomes will be. We acknowledge that. A huge amount of it is down to a shortage of staff and being able to find staff. This problem is not unique to Ireland; it exists across the world, particularly in view of the shortage of qualified therapists.

We are not sitting on our hands; we are acting. The HSE is progressing several initiatives to improve the supply of therapists into disability services and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, are deeply engaged in this work and will meet the HSE board in the coming weeks to discuss this matter and other matters. The measures that will be taken include: a confined competition to fill vacant senior posts across all disciplines on CDNTs; targeted recruitment for CDNTs; targeted international recruitment for CDNTs, with an agreed relocation allowance for people who are willing to come in from abroad; and a sponsorship programme for therapy grades. In addition, the HSE is looking at other options, including bringing in an apprentice programme for therapy grades.

We have done that in other areas, saying that there should be more ways to enter the profession. It does not have to be through the degree system or the universities and perhaps we can have an apprenticeship in this area. We have introduced the employment of graduates as graduate therapists while they are awaiting registration, so we do not have people awaiting registration who could work in the system but are told they cannot. There has been an expansion of therapy assistants in the system, with the HSE supporting individuals to return to education to qualify as therapists, and also an increase in the number of clinical placements on the CDNTs.

Despite the recruitment challenges, the HSE and the Department remain committed to progressing these efforts to increase the workforce and to improve services to children and families. I know that listing recruitment initiatives can seem somewhat removed from the very real pressures that parents, and ultimately their children, are facing, but I really cannot emphasise enough how the challenges in our CDNTs are primarily driven by shortage of staff, and how we are doing all that we can to increase the number of staff, to bring staff from abroad and to increase the number of people who are trained here.

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