Results 241-260 of 9,249 for speaker:Hildegarde Naughton

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: I take both Deputies' points on board and it is an absolute priority. I came from having responsibility for special education and the Minister, Deputy Foley, was Minister for Education. We are now in the Department with responsibility for disability. We have a very clear picture of the need for more therapies, access to therapies and access to assessments. That is at the forefront of the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: We are looking at pay and terms and conditions. That is under way as well, as the Deputy knows. We are looking at absolutely everything. There is our national disability strategy. That will not be just the Department with responsibility for disability but every single Government Department having disability in their brief. I will be publishing that strategy before the summer recess and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: As I stated to Deputy Ó Murchú, the CDNTs workforce survey was conducted last October. That captured staffing levels across various disciplines and grades, providing a snapshot of the current workforce across the 93 teams. The 2024 CDNT workforce report is based on the outputs of the survey. The published report shows that all six regional health areas were carrying vacancies...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: I agree that far more needs to be done as regards retention and recruitment within the CDNTs. That is an absolute priority for my Department. We have under the disability action plan and the progressing disability services roadmap set out measures. I will outline a few briefly. We are supporting practice education in CDNTs. We are supporting student sponsorship programmes. There is an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: A children’s disability network team workforce survey was conducted on 16 October 2024. This survey captured staffing levels across various disciplines and grades, providing a snapshot of the current workforce across the 93 CDNTs. While this report only provides us with a snapshot in time, with recruitment having continued in the interim, it is the most comprehensive workforce report...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: Significantly, the CDNT vacancy rate has reduced from 29% in 2023 to 22% in 2024, a reduction of 7% nationally. The Deputy is correct regarding recruitment and retention. A lot of work is happening in that space. In order to achieve the staffing level improvements seen in 2024 and fill those vacancies, there were intensive domestic and international recruitment efforts across the HSE and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: I will start with the last part of the question. We are working on a national disability strategy, which will be published before the summer recess. A high level of engagement is happening right across Government with my Cabinet colleagues, including the Minister, Deputy Foley, the Minister for Education, the Minister for Health, the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: A personalised budget is an amount of funding allocated by the HSE to a disabled person, enabling them to make arrangements to access specialist disability services which best meet their individual needs. In this way, personalised budgets can provide disabled people with more choice and control over the services and supports they get. The funding qualifies individuals to access a wide range...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: Increasing the Disability Sector Workforce and reducing waiting lists for therapy services is a key priority of Government. However, the HSE and Lead Agencies are experiencing ongoing challenges recruiting to maximum capacity in the disability sector, reflective of issues affecting the wider health and social care sector and impacting the ability of the HSE and disability service providers...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: Ensuring that the disability sector is fully resourced is a key priority of Government, which has been reflected in the Programme for Government. A dedicated Disability Workforce Strategy will be developed by the HSE in 2025, to meet growing service demands and address recruitment and retention challenges across specialist disability services. The HSE and the various Lead Agencies...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Housing Schemes (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: I thank the Deputy for this question. Ensuring that people with disabilities can live lives of their choosing in accessible housing and as independently as possible is a key priority for Government. That is why housing has been a key consideration throughout the development process for the next National Disability Strategy, a Programme for Government commitment that will advance the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Policies (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: I thank the Deputy for this question and note that my colleague, the Minister for Transport, will provide a response in relation to the obligations of statutory transport bodies to perform audits of public transport accessibility. As to the part of the Deputy’s question that references the obligations of local authorities in relation to audits of disability access for footpaths and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 134 together. As these questions refer 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: Disabilities Assessments (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: As this question refers to the 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 (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: As this question refers to the 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: Disabilities Assessments (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: As this question refers to the 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 (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: 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: Departmental Policies (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: I thank the Deputy for this question. Government acknowledges that considerable barriers to employment exist for people with disabilities and that the rate of unemployment among disabled people is unacceptably high. Government policy is to continually increase the number of people with disabilities in employment and while there is more to be done, progress has been made to ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Budgets (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: While my Department sets the strategy, policy direction and the overall allocation for the disability sector, funding allocations to individual service providers is an operational matter for the HSE as the funding authority. In 2024, the department provided an overall allocation of €3 billion to the HSE for specialist community-based disability services, which it delivers directly...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Policies (29 Apr 2025)

Hildegarde Naughton: Government is committed to ensuring that disabled people are supported to live full lives of their own choosing, on an equitable basis with all others in society. The accessibility of towns and villages is very important in ensuring that disabled people can participate and thrive within their own communities. It is also complex, encompassing the provision of safe, reliable and accessible...