Results 9,741-9,760 of 10,837 for speaker:Anne Rabbitte

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Schemes (11 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: The Government decided to close the Motorised Transport Grant and Mobility Allowance administrative schemes in 2013, on foot of the Ombudsman reports in 2011 and 2012 regarding the legal status of both schemes in the context of the Equal Status Acts. Both schemes remain closed. The rates of payment have not changed since the closure of the scheme. Mobility Allowance is an income assessed...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (11 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: As this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (11 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: As this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (11 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: As this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Transport Costs (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this important matter. Towards the end of this debate, we might go on a journey of my work in the area of transport to date. The HSE provides specialist disability services, including day services and rehabilitative training, to people with disabilities who require such services. Transport is not considered a core specialist disability service. As...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Transport Costs (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I was very fortunate to secure an additional €5 million in budget 2024 specifically for transport. Both the Department and I are banging our heads together at the moment. However, I am very clear that there are three elements within all of this, one of which would be to remove the inequality whereby people have to pay to attend a day service. The second element is with regard to...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the committee members. I welcome the opportunity to meet with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on the progression of recommendations in the joint committee's Report on Assessments of Need for Children, and to provide members with an up-to-date picture of the situation as regards assessments of need for...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank Deputy Tully for her question, which is a valid one. To be honest, it is part of recommendation No. 19: A clear plan must be communicated to parents regarding the situation with AONs going forward, including timelines and information on what measures are being taken, budgetary and otherwise, to get children the services they need. On the next page, recommendation No. 25 states:...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: Nobody wants any child to be waiting. That is why extra funding has been sourced and why there is a twin approach - for example, if the CDNT does not have the capacity or there are long waiters and the CDNT has not met its statutory requirements. We have to be honest that, in some cases, children have been waiting for up to two and a half years since the last backlog was cleared. It is...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: It is up 3%. It is not up massively.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: One issue that we have discovered is that people qualifying out of college need to ensure for their CORU registration, until they get comfortable and have enough experience, that they have clinical oversight. That was significant when progressing disability services was first rolled out. There were not enough senior clinical governance posts. Different disciplines did not have clinical...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: It has navigated this very poorly. It has not put enough thought into it. While it is fantastic to have the role of assistant therapist, which I agree will play a pivotal role in supporting a finite resource of clinicians, when the role was put in, I was of a firm belief that the assistant therapist needs to not just be a generic title but an assistant therapist in occupational therapy,...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: It is challenging.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank the Senator for the question. I have no doubt Deputy Coveney will be asking a question in a similar vein. To be quite honest, it is one of the greatest challenges I have had since becoming Minister of State. We recognised back in 2021 the removal of therapists in May and June of that month was a levelling-down of services and there was a pause put on it. With that pause there was...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: Teachers are not therapists, nor are they SNAs. Parents require the familiarity of a programme being delivered to our most vulnerable. While the 221 therapists across the country allocated for the budgetary period 2021-2022 has worked successfully in some areas, it has not worked in all.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: To be very fair to the HSE, when the PDS model was being developed it was about equity of access regardless of where you lived. That concept is a very noble one.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: If you lived above in Inishowen, which is a huge challenge for us at the moment, you should be able to access a community-based disability team that has a speech and language therapist, an OT, a physiotherapist and access to psychologist. It should not be all urban-based, so to be very fair to the HSE 91 of those teams have shown flexibility. The flexibility is the teams of specialism where...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I will start with the live database. There is an ICT system, 50% of which is functioning as we speak. All the HSE organisations are talking to each other but there is a GDPR issue regarding section 38 and 39 organisations and how they can plug into the system. It is still a paper-based approach. The question is how to then identify those waiting a long time in section 38 or section 39...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: Yes.