Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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129. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her plans to address morale among staff of children's disability network teams; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7670/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Progressing Disability Services (PDS) Roadmap 2023 – 2026, launched by the HSE in October 2023, focuses on the ongoing development of Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT) services to meet current and growing demand. Under Working Group 3 of the PDS Roadmap which focuses on Workforce, the HSE is progressing 21 actions focused on recruitment and retention initiatives which will directly impact the experience of CDNT staff, as the HSE recognises the current pressures being faced and the link between staff vacancies and workforce satisfaction.

Reducing the CDNT vacancy rate remains a focus for this Government and the HSE have advised me that funding for additional posts to enhance capacity in recent years has resulted in a year on year increase of personnel by 17%, a net increase of 272 staff in CDNTs for 2024 compared to 2023.

A national standard set for all CDNTs of 1 student placement per 2 full time staff per discipline in post on the team, has materialised in a 29% increase in student placements provided from 243 in academic year 2022-2023 to 317 in year 2023-2024. This is a strong recruitment and retention strategy, beneficial for student learning and attraction to CDNT work post-graduation, and for individual staff and team development, and a credit to the teams and their managers for this progress.

Additionally, a proposal for 4 years’ salary paid to new graduates over 5 years for a gap year in year 5 initiative was submitted to Department of Health and copied to DCEDIY in December following discussions with key stakeholders. A final version agreed with the Department of Health is anticipated in the coming weeks.

Under the new Programme for Government, we will work to increase staff, train more therapists and enable targeted supports for CDNTs. Through these concentrated efforts, we will build a more robust workforce into the future to meet the growing needs of families and children.