Written answers
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Disability Services
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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135. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will ensure funding for dietetic services for adult disability services in Waterford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6974/25]
Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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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.
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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136. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her plans to address staffing deficits in children’s disability network teams; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6973/25]
Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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A Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) workforce survey was conducted on 16th October 2024. This survey captured staffing levels across various disciplines and grades, providing a snapshot of the current workforce across 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 we have on CDNTs. It is expected that the full report will be published by the HSE in the coming weeks.
The returning data indicates that the CDNT workforce increased by 17% when compared with the 2023 figure. This represents an additional 272 Whole-Time Equivalent staff working across CDNTs. Within those on-boarded, the largest growth was in Health and Social Care Professionals, accounting for 204 of the 272 WTE staff. Most significantly, the CDNT vacancy rate has reduced from 29% in 2023 to 22% in 2024 - a reduction of 7% nationally.
Although recruitment challenges persist, this is a welcome development in the context of an acknowledged international shortage of personnel with the necessary qualifications or experience to fill vacant CDNT posts.
In Budget 2025, my Department secured €2.84m in New Development Measure funding to provide:
- an additional 40 Health and Social Care Professionals, comprising 20 senior and 20 staff grade therapists.
- 20 Therapy Assistants to enhance services, including in-reach services for special schools and special classes.
- 15 Clinical Psychology Trainee placements, which are critical to attracting and up-skilling undergraduates to work in CDNTs post-graduation.
The HSE is driving a suite of initiatives to address the CDNT vacancy rate. This includes intensive recruitment efforts across the HSE, section 38 and section 39 organisations to onboard staff and sustained outreach and engagement with secondary schools and Higher Education Institutions to expose more students to the rewarding and impactful nature of work in disability services and CDNTs.
Seven of the disciplines working on CDNT teams have been included on the Critical Skills Occupations List enabling non-EEA nationals to be eligible for a work permit.
To further support the service provision, there is ongoing development of additional disciplines to expand skills mix and applicant pools, including the development of the role of Health and Social Care Assistant (Therapy Assistant) in 2024. In addition, practice education placements in CDNTs continue to be increased, alongside a continued expansion in the number of places in higher education, to enhance the pipeline of future therapists.
Ensuring that the Disability Sector is fully resourced is a priority of Government, and increasing the CDNT workforce remains a key objective for my Department and the HSE.
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