Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Government and I recognise the need for all children to receive the right services at the right time. We are committed to improving services for all children with disabilities. We have and will continue to do so. As the Deputy will know, there are currently 93 CDNTs across the country and these teams provide services and supports for children from birth to 18 years of age. Children with neurological conditions receive supports through these teams as well as through other community services. Almost 45,000 children and their families are being supported by children’s disability network teams and in respect of the number of children waiting to access the CDNTs, it has been decreasing by 15% in the first half of this year. HSE data from April 2025 shows there has been a nationwide increase of 26% in CDNT staffing levels since October 2023. Most significantly, the CDNT national vacancy rate has reduced from 29% in 2023 to 18% this year, a reduction of 11 percentage points, and we will continue to improve that.

The model of service for all CDNTs is family-centred and based on the needs of the child. It is centred on the objectives of empowering and supporting parents and others who are with the child on a daily basis to facilitate the child’s developmental needs. The programme for Government includes a commitment to advancing neurorehabilitation services nationally, including the completion of the national roll-out of HSE community neurorehabilitation teams. To date, the Government has provided funding for community neurorehabilitation teams in four regional health areas around HSE Galway, Roscommon and Mayo; HSE south west; HSE Dublin, South and Wicklow; HSE Dublin south west, south city and west; and Kildare west Wicklow. The Deputy's issue was in relation to children in particular and we will be increasing focus on children’s neurorehabilitation going forward. The HSE is progressing plans to examine the demand for paediatric neurorehabilitation services for children in Ireland. I will come back in afterwards.

See this speech in context