Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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66. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the date on which his Department will take control of community specialist disability functions, including children’s disability network teams; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56996/22]

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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On what date will the Department take control of the community specialist disability functions, including the children's disability network teams?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In announcing the formation of Government, the Taoiseach announced his intention to have the co-ordination of disability-related issues handled by a Minister for the first time. The location of disability equality policy, which had previously been in the Department of Justice, and specialist community-based disability services in a single Department will facilitate strategic policy development, including implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, which Ireland ratified in 2018, as well as the significant reforms envisioned under the transforming lives programme.

Under the convention, and following the transfer of the equality function, my Department is both the national focal point and the co-ordinating mechanism for implementation of the UNCRPD. Consolidation of the disability function represents a significant opportunity to progress further the realisation of the convention in Ireland.

This is a significant transfer of functions, both from the point of view of improving services for persons with a disability and from the perspective of both Departments. My priority has always been to ensure that the transfer can happen in a seamless and effective way so that services are maintained and enhanced and all appropriate governance and financial arrangements are properly put in place.

At this time, our two Departments, working with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the HSE, are finalising financial governance arrangements, which were the final elements that needed to be addressed. We will look to bring a memo to Government shortly to finalise the date.

As I said, it is a significant transfer of functions. A budget of €2.4 billion is transferring from the Department of Health to my Department, with the responsibility for many crucial services, such as residential services and children's disability network teams. All of those will continue to be operated by the HSE but accountability will be within my Department. It has taken too long. We all recognise that. We are close to the end of that process now and to a situation where it will fully transfer to my Department.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. I concur with everything he has said about why we are doing this. The reality is that it is hugely disappointing, as it was mooted to happen last July, then September. I found out that it had not happened when the Minister's Department appeared in front of the Committee of Public Accounts and I was informed it was not any closer because there were still things to be ironed out. I met CHO 5 last week. It contains the children's disability network team in my area. It is haemorrhaging staff because of the lack of organisation. I keep hearing that there is no issue with funding. It is extraordinary to hear that there is no issue with funds but that we do not have the staff. The staff that we do have within CHO 5 have come to the conclusion that the CDNT does not work. That is concerning because there are myriad problems. There is a haemorrhaging of staff and patients are on waiting lists of up to three years.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I share the Deputy's frustration. She is on the Committee of Public Accounts. One of the key reasons that this has gone slowly is that after this transfer, for the first time, the HSE will be reporting to two masters. It will be accountable to the Department of Health for €20 billion of its budget and to our Department for €2.4 billion. I want to be able to ensure that, in next year's budget, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I get an extra €50 million to get people out of residential care. I want to be able to ensure that I can see where that money goes within the HSE and where we get an outcome from it. The Deputy wants to see that too in the Committee of Public Accounts. Up to this point, it has not been clear how that line of sight will be put in place. We want to put that in place so that when the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I advocate for those improvements, we can see the delivery. It is slower. I share the Deputy's frustration but I believe we are close to achieving that and will see that transfer soon. I may speak about CDNTs in my next reply because I know that is important to the Deputy.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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There is a specific issue involving a mother of three children. They are all autistic, one severely so. He is only 11. She is the mother of 15-year-old twins but the 11-year-old is essentially ruling the roost. This mother is a lone parent. She needs co-ordination of all the services but there is nothing. She does not have anybody. She should have a co-ordination officer. She is dealing with three children. She has CDNT, child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, Tusla and doctors, but she is engaging with none of them because she does not have the energy or mental capacity because her 11-year-old has great need of services and she is not getting them. The CDNT is not able to provide them. There is complete failure in the system. My concerns are not about money because their concerns are not about money, but about staff to provide the services. It does not hold that there is no concern about money because if we were paying enough, we would have the staff. It may not be quite as simple as that but it should be.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Deputy is correct that staffing is a key issue but I also think engagement with parents and how the relationship between the HSE and parents is managed is an issue. In far too many areas, whether in Wexford or Dublin 15, there is an intensely confrontational environment. Parents have become frustrated because they have been let down. We need to change that. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I have been working on this progressing disability services roadmap. We recognise that CDNTs are in place and that they work in parts of the country but not in other parts, primarily because of the staffing issues. This has been led by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, in particular. She has prioritised getting staff in the short term as well as in the long term so that we have a better supply of occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and psychologists coming in. That will involve looking at college places and master's degree courses in the long term and, in the short term, getting these skills added to the critical skills list was an important step taken by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. She has changed the system so that some UK, Welsh and Northern Irish qualifications can be recognised foreign qualifications here so that those people can practise here. All of that will be set out in the roadmap.