Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

On the Deputy's last point, that is exactly what we are doing. I am not disputing the fact we absolutely need to increase recruitment. There is a huge amount of work happening. In budget 2026 €8 million has been secured to allow for the funding of 150 staff for our CDNTs and the configuration of these posts is under review by the HSE. That expands on the funding of €2.85 million which was made available in 2025 for children’s services. Also, the programme for Government commits to a doubling of the number of college places for speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, psychologists and social workers. In June the Government approved an expansion in training places that will provide up to 361 additional student places by 2028, with the majority of those commencing this year. We have a student sponsorship programme that was advertised by the HSE in April. That will support health and social care professional graduates to take up a job in CDNTs by providing financial sponsorship as part of their education costs. That will then be matched with a job within our CDNTs. That is just an example of the funding investment that is going in here, the recruitment and the awareness campaigns. I assure the Deputy everything that can be done is being done but if he has suggestions, my door is open in relation to this recruitment and retention drive.

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