Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

Children are entitled to an assessment of their health and educational needs within six months under the Disability Act. There are more than 15,000 children waiting right now. That number is expected to rise by more than 9,000 by the end of the year. To put those numbers in context, just 4,000 assessments were completed last year. In CHO 7, which incorporates Dublin South-West, some of the CDNTs are woefully understaffed.

CDNT 8, which is based in Chamber House in Tallaght, had a 53% staff vacancy rate at the start of April. CDNT 3 is based in a neighbouring constituency in Crumlin but it had a 68% vacancy rate. The CDNT in Ballyboden, which is part of my constituency, has pulled all speech and language therapy and there is no restoration in sight. There is no offer of alternative arrangements for the children, just a letter to say services have been ceased. What are the families to do? It is entirely unsustainable to run any branch of the health service when more than half of the posts are vacant. We are running healthcare professionals ragged trying to cover not only their duties but also those of another worker or maybe even two other workers. This leads to poor morale, poor working conditions and inevitable burnout, leading to the loss of yet another critical staff member.

For the sake of the tens of thousands of children, this Government must comply with its legal obligations to provide assessments within six months. We have to throw out the HSE pay and numbers strategy and deliver a long-term, sustainable solution that includes an urgent workforce plan to recruit, train and retain enough staff to finally end this breach of children’s rights once and for all. I agree with Deputy Ardagh on therapists in school. That is the model used in other countries. Children should have access to them in special schools. Unfortunately, in the special school in my constituency the children do not have access to therapists. It is about assessments, but it is also about those supports and they are not coming through. We all need to step up. I listened to everyone and we collectively agree on this issue, so let us see action coming from the Minister of State and her Department.

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