Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. That is a very comprehensive response, which I very much appreciate. As she will be aware, in March 2023, specialist disability services were transferred to her Department. The area that I want to focus on with regard to the disability action plan is early intervention, and in particular the assessment of need, staffing levels in general and the children's disability network teams, CDNTs, among other things. I note the ambition to hire 600 additional whole-time equivalent staff in this strategy for 2024 to 2026 to build capacity, in particular in the multidisciplinary teams. This is of course very welcome. However, we know - because we have spoken about this many times, I regret - that it is a challenge. Has the Minister of State a progress update, even though it is 29 February? Has there been any progress on that particular ambition in the plan?

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