John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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529. To ask the Minister for Health if he will expand on the work to set up a cross-departmental unit to examine access to therapies, as outlined in the Taoiseach’s speech to the Houses of the Oireachtas on 17 December 2022. [10725/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The new Child Poverty & Wellbeing Unit, which will take a whole of government approach to improving child poverty, will be established in the first quarter of 2023 in Department of the Taoiseach. The aim is to build on what has already been achieved and provide greater focus to improving the lives and wellbeing of all children in Ireland.

I have been informed by the Department of the Taoiseach that work is ongoing to scope out the purpose and functions of the Unit to ensure that it brings added value as well as strategic leadership and enhanced accountability to this issue. It is not intended that the Unit would supplant the work that is underway across many Departments, including my Department, but would rather bring an urgent focus to the areas that could have the greatest impact on children’s lives.

With regard to access to therapy services, my Department continues to focus on ensuring timely access to therapy services for children and to reducing waiting times for all. In Budget 2023, the Department secured substantial annual investment of €195m to enable the continued delivery of the Enhanced Community Care (ECC) Programme. The ECC programme will see approximately 3,500 additional staff recruited within the primary and community care sector. To date, almost 2,500 staff have been recruited or are at an advanced stage of recruitment with the remainder targeted to be recruited throughout 2023. This investment is supporting a programmatic and integrated approach to the development of the primary care that, among other initiatives, includes the development of 96 new Community Healthcare Networks (CHNs). These networks, of which 94 are already established, are central to the development of improved primary care services, with each network serving a local population of around 50,000. Furthermore, children and young people will continue to be supported in primary care through specific investments, including, for example, the Primary Care Psychology Waiting List Initiative.