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

No, the Minister is fine.

I thank Deputies Ward and Ó Murchú for their questions. The question is on recruitment and retention of our staff, including therapists in our voluntary and community sectors. We are doing everything to make sure pay is fair. This is why there was a call to the WRC. The Minister, Deputy Foley, and I have brought a memo to Cabinet welcoming the talks at the WRC. From the Government's point of view, we want to make sure people are paid fairly and valued for the work they do. This is very clear. I welcome those constructive talks, which are the best way to find a resolution. The Government has given its commitment on this.

We also need to make sure we have a pipeline of people coming through, including through apprenticeships and our third level institutions, whereby students who are training have an opportunity to go into CDNTs or a special school for the summer programme and have access to, and experience of, working with children with additional needs or adults who have disabilities. The number of training places in higher education institutes have increased. We have a growth in clinical placements in children's disability network teams. This serves to improve the recruitment of health and social care professionals into the CDNTs. The HSE career hub has more than 38,000 registered applicants. This gives CDNTs a substantial boost in advertising and engaging with targeted applicant pools. We also have outreach, which is important for improving the perception of the role.

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