Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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86. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for a breakdown of the staff numbers and grade in each of the CDNTs in County Meath in 2021, 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19187/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I am interested in the strength of those teams and the vacancies there as it relates to the huge demand for services.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to update the House on the four children’s disability network teams, CDNTs, in County Meath. Network 2, where the HSE is the lead agency, covers Kells, Oldcastle and north Meath, while network 6, also led by the HSE, covers Athboy, Dunboyne, Enfield, Summerhill and Trim. Enable Ireland is the lead agency for network 4, covering Ashbourne, Duleek, Dunshaughlin, Laytown, Bettystown and Ratoath, and network 5, covering Navan and Slane.

CHO 8, similar to other parts of the health service, is experiencing significant recruitment challenges. These challenges are not unique to this CHO and are affecting many teams throughout the country and across many clinical disciplines, which is having an impact on service delivery. Notwithstanding these challenges, staffing numbers across the four CDNTs now sits at 70.3 whole-time equivalents, up 9% year on year, and over 10% since 2021. Compared with Cavan, which we discussed earlier, it is a completely different story. While I acknowledge that vacancies exist across the CDNTs, it is also important to note that three of the four CDNTs have higher staffing levels than in 2023, with the fourth team maintaining its level year on year.

Over the past four years, 33.3 staff have been added in CDNT 2 and more than 73.9 staff have been added in CDNT 4. In CDNT 5, which is an Enable Ireland team, 91 staff have been added. In CDNT 6, a total of 50 staff have been added. Over those four teams in County Meath, 248 staff have been added. I can share the figures in tabular format with the Deputy after Question Time.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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It is difficult capture all the details and I would appreciate getting the tables. I asked the same question a year ago. Similar to the picture across the State, there is a significant vacancy rate. Whatever about posts being allocated, 36% were vacant, which is more than one in three. CDNT2, which covers a large urban area, had 49% vacancy. I recognise that funding is provided for posts but the issue is with demand for services and the vacancy rate. I presume those teams do not have the full complement of staff. There is a huge demand and waiting lists for those services.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Every figure I read out relates to filled positions. They are 248 posts that were filled over the past four years. The staff in whole-time equivalents is at 70% in County Meath. CHO 8 covers many counties, but in the Deputy's county it covers those four teams. That is the up-to-date situation with filled positions as we speak. Let us be clear; there is still a vacancy rate of 30%. I am not saying that by any manner of means it is perfect. There is still a long way to go. There is a large population of families there. It is quite an urban-centric county. Many more staff are required to meet the needs of the children on the teams. However, that is the current staffing level.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State and I look forward to getting those figures. It is the exact same paragraph as I had from last year on the significant recruitment challenges. Will the Minister of State speak to the issue of recruitment and retention? She may be checking figures. While I do not want to put her on the spot, they are a long way off what I have here. If she has clarification on the figures, I would be happy to hear it. Regarding the recruitment and retention challenge in the sector, are we training enough staff? Are we getting to the bottom of the issues with recruiting and retaining staff?

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Let me be very clear. The wording here is "Notwithstanding those challenges, staffing numbers across the four CDNTs now sits at 70.3 whole-time equivalents". It is not a percentage but whole-time equivalents.

Are we training enough staff? In the past 12 months, I have set up a workforce planning group that I chair. All the lead agencies are part of it, along with the Department of higher education and the leads within the HSE, so that we can have that around-the-table conversation. Are we training enough? Are we ensuring we have people in the different disciplines to meet the needs? It cannot always be OTs, physiotherapists and speech language therapists. We need dieticians, psychologists and assistant therapists. In the Deputy's county, the ETBs are fantastic at training the assistant therapists. If we are training assistant therapists, OTs and physiotherapists, we need to ensure they actually have work placement opportunities. The HSE is quite shy in providing those workplace opportunities within the teams. If they were able to avail of that, we would be able to bring on more staff quickly to support the children who need it.