Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by children and young people with disabilities and their families in accessing essential therapy services in Cavan and Monaghan. It is important to say that along with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and Deputies Brendan Smith and Niamh Smyth, I visited Monaghan in the past month and met the families concerned. Lead agencies are experiencing ongoing challenges recruiting across a range of disciplines and grades to fully staff their teams to maximum capacity. The Government is committed to facing these challenges and delivering real and tangible solutions to enhance disability services to better support children with special needs and their families across Ireland.

The most recent figures available indicate that the staff vacancy rate for the Enable Ireland team in Cavan is currently 58% with a total of 11.96 whole-time equivalent staff in situ. The staff vacancy rate for the HSE team in Monaghan under community healthcare organisation, CHO, 1 is 39.97%, with a total of 17.34 whole-time equivalent staff in situ.

I am pleased to report positive progress regarding the recent nationwide CDNT recruitment campaign, Be part of our team, be part of their lives, which received 495 applications. In CHO 1, 87 valid applications were received as part of the nationwide recruitment campaign. Lead agencies are conducting interviews with candidates and a report on the outcome of these interviews is awaited. It is important to say the campaign ran until nearly the end of January and closed then. It was at that stage candidates were shortlisted.

Now they are actually at their final stages. A lot of the interviews have happened, and they are at the stage of finalising and making offers available.

The HSE is also driving initiatives to provide the support so urgently needed for waitlisted children such as the children’s disability service grant fund. The HSE advises that the fund is now in the final stages of the assessment and evaluation process, which it expects to conclude imminently. In fact, before I came in here this evening, I met with Mr. Bernard O'Regan to discuss where exactly we are in ensuring that grant is made available as quickly as possible.

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