Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

Disability is something that touches most of our lives. We all know someone who is living with a disability or is caring for someone with a disability, be that a seen or unseen disability. This lived experience should be what directs policy. It is people living with disabilities, or those who care for them, who know best what we need to change and how we can improve. I call on the Government to expand and invest in services. It is imperative we invest in disabilities at the same time as reforming how disability services are delivered.

As a former SNA, I stress how important it is to continue the roll-out of therapists in special schools and, furthermore, to expand it to mainstream schools also. This is perhaps the number-one ask from parents who have been in contact with my office. I call on the Government to remain fully focused on delivering on the commitments made in the programme for Government. As a backbench TD, I must continue to push for these measures as a priority for the constituents of Carlow-Kilkenny.

We urgently need to make much-needed reforms to the current assessment of need process. Children and families are waiting far too long, which is having knock-on consequences for their well-being and family life. Simply continuing to do the same thing and hoping to get a different result is not an acceptable option for me, nor should it be for the Government. The primary focus must be on identifying the delays and blockages which are causing these growing waiting lists for assessment of need. We need to find the most effective solution to these blockages. While that will take time, we must ensure any changes introduced are effective and can be sustained over time. This means that whenever an application for an assessment of need is submitted, it is dealt with promptly and within the statutory timeframes.

Every week I hear from far too many constituents across Carlow and Kilkenny who are waiting for an assessment of need. One parent in my community has been in touch with the CDNT in Carlow seeking support for her young daughter. She contacted the CDNT initially in September 2024. After waiting for five months, she received a response informing her that although her daughter needs an assessment of need, due to staff shortages, she would be waiting for four years for that assessment to happen. This is wholly unacceptable. We need to address our staffing issues. While I am conscious of the challenges and strains facing the health and social care sector when it comes to recruitment and retention, we must ensure our disability services are appropriately and adequately resourced and staffed to meet the needs of people with disabilities in Ireland.

I look forward to the development of the dedicated disability workforce strategy that has been referenced to meet the growing service demands and address recruitment and retention challenges across the specialist disability services. Even the increased capacity and enhanced service delivery in the disability service will not be possible, however, unless we ensure there are proper resources in place to service these ambitions. I welcome the €3.2 billion which has been allocated for the HSE disability services this year, which marks an 11.5% increase in funding on last year and an overall increase of €1.2 billion since 2020. While it is a significant increase in funding, there are nonetheless significant pressures facing the sector which need to be examined, understood and rectified. I would like to see collaborative efforts across the Departments for that to happen.

I welcome the news that the Department of disability will work closely with the Department of Health on resourcing disability; with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on expanding the pipeline for further therapists; and with the Department of Education and Youth on the development of the national therapy service in education. Having said all that, we also need to continue our focus on recruitment and retention strategies.

There is no doubt that addressing the problems within the assessment of need process is a challenging piece of work. It requires a well thought out and comprehensive plan to ensure all aspects of the system are examined and, where necessary, improved and fixed. We owe it to the children of Ireland and their families. They are relying on us to put in place a sustainable assessment of need system that works. I will be working for the constituents of Carlow-Kilkenny to ensure the commitments made in the programme for Government are fulfilled. We need to do better for parents and for our children.

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