Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy, who has raised valid issues. We are supporting practice education in CDNTs. There is a student sponsorship programme. There is also an initiative whereby four years of salary are paid to new graduates over five years to support a gap year in the fifth year. We also have the development of apprenticeship programmes. At national level in response to the challenges, we have rolling recruitment campaigns with employers. There is talent searching in the Irish and international markets for staff. We also have workforce issues in CDNTs. These are being tackled through the progressing disability service roadmap to address current vacancies and expand recruitment throughout children's disability services.

At the direction of my Department, an assistant national director for disabilities workforce has been appointed in the HSE to drive disability workforce initiatives, with particular emphasis on CDNTs. There will be a disability workforce strategy developed in 2025. We are looking at a range of measures, including making sure we have a pipeline of therapists coming from third level institutions. We have HSE figures for community, voluntary and social care workers, who are the backbone of our essential services.

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