Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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467. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to consider extending the speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy services schemes and provide opportunities, which are not currently available to all children under the remit of disability within the Department, as outlined in the Roadmap for Service Improvement 2023-2026 Disability Services for Children and Young People (details supplied).; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31376/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I want to be clear that the delivery of appropriate and accessible services for children with disabilities and their families is a priority of this Government, my Department, the HSE and its lead agencies. The core principle of the Progressing Disability Services (PDS) policy is to achieve fairer and more equitable access to services for children with disabilities based on their needs, regardless of diagnosis, where they live or where they go to school. The Roadmap for Service Improvement 2023-2026 Disability Services for Children and Young People (PDS Roadmap) focuses on the ongoing development of Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT) services to meet current and growing demand.

CDNTs are currently providing services and supports for over 43,000 children, however, I acknowledge that waiting times are too long. There are significant challenges in implementing PDS at this time and for the CDNTs to achieve the desired level, quality and types of service they wish to provide. While recruitment and retention of staff is a challenge across the sector overall, a significant focus of this Government is filling vacant posts within the 93 CDNTs.

In Budget 2025, €10 million has been made available for Children’s Services. Funding will focus on recruiting various positions across the CDNTs, and measures will also be provided to assist with sustainably addressing the Assessment of Need backlog, while freeing up resources available to provide therapeutic supports to children with complex needs. In addition, some bespoke initiatives designed to provide specialist supports for children with complex needs will be supported.

In August 2024, Government agreed to support the special schools’ pilot for enhanced in-school therapy supports for 16 special schools to join the pilot during the 2024/2025 academic year. The pilot features enhanced supports provided by the Health Service Executive (HSE), its funded agencies and is supported by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). A focus of the pilot is the provision of additional Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy supports, based on need, to children attending select special schools. This pilot supplements existing services being provided through the CDNTs.

The National Disability Authority (NDA) has been commissioned by the HSE to undertake an independent evaluation of the pilot, with the full report expected to be available in late summer 2025. The results of this evaluation will be used to identify how the initial phase of the pilot has gone and to improve future delivery of this pilot programme.

Alongside this Government and my Department, I will continue to diligently engage with the HSE, service providers and families to ensure that children with disabilities receive the support and services they require.