Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He can be assured when I came into this role our CDNTs and that step change in disabilities service are an absolute priority. As he will know, we are working on a national disability strategy at the higher end where every single Department will have to feed in what they are going to do. Whether it is the Departments of Justice, Health, Social Protection, transport, or enterprise, that step change will be required right across Government. Regarding the issue of assessment of needs, which the Deputy raised, we can all acknowledge it is currently not working. The waiting lists are far too long. There is an issue around therapists. We are doing our recruitment drives at a domestic and international level. Last year, my colleague, Deputy O'Donovan, when he was Minster for higher education, put in place an extra 150 therapy places through our higher education institutions and we will be doing at least that again this coming September. We are also looking at therapy assistant posts and how they can support our CDNTs to ensure our children and adults are getting the therapies they deserve and need. As the Deputy will know, I am also working my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, regarding therapies going directly into our special schools and eventually into special classes in mainstream schools. That will also help to ensure that those children most in need - or some of them - are getting access to therapies. I found instances in my last brief in special education going into special schools where a child would not have seen a therapist. That is just not acceptable. Those measures are part of it. We have an extra 272 whole-time equivalents within our CDNTs across the country. That is more than a 20% increase but we need to do much more. I am certainly open to suggestions as to how we can ensure we have a greater supply of those therapies be it occupational therapists and speech and language therapists.

I am engaging with the HSE, including Mr. Bernard Gloster, and the Department on what else we can do about the assessment of need process. I am sure the Deputy has found in his own area that it is not just about getting the assessment of need. Sometimes when someone gets one, he or she is still waiting to get access to those therapies. These issues are a top priority for me to make sure that adults and, in particular, children get early access to the therapies they need. We are spending €3.2 billion on disability under the previous budget. We want to see the expansion and reform of our disability services in order to maximise people's independence and to help to support them to live the lives they so wish. There will continue to be significant investment in this area.

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