Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know the parent the Deputy is talking about. I have spoke to that lady as well. I know the difficulty she faces and that she has tried approximately four different schools and is having difficulties. I know that and we are doing all we can to support her. We need to explore greater use of the private sector when it comes to the assessment of need. We also need to grow the teams within the HSE which are providing much-needed therapies and increase training places within our third-level sector so that we improve services, increase capacity and reduce waiting lists.

In this regard, the progressing disability services roadmap for 2023 to 2026 was launched last October. It focuses on the ongoing development of children's disability network teams and services to meet current and growing demand.

We are investing greatly in CDNTs, with funding equating to almost 800 whole-time equivalent posts, including approximately 175 therapy assistant posts, approved in this year's budget. There was no embargo on recruiting people who could carry out assessments of need for children. There was a derogation on that in terms of staffing. All the resources we could find and put into that have been put into that. There has been a lot done in that area. I agree that we have to do more.

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