Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1600. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will engage with the HSE and relevant agencies to address the failure of inter-agency collaboration in supporting pupils in SEBD special schools, and one school in particular (details supplied); and whether her Department will commit to resourcing consistent links with CAMHS, CDNTs and TUSLA for children in these settings. [59838/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government recognises the importance of early intervention for children with disabilities and ensuring they receive the right supports and services at the right time. Under the Programme for Government, the Government is committed to ensuring children and their families who need early intervention and therapy input can access that support in a timely way. This includes children who attend special schools, such as Casa Caterina Special School.

This school is funded and resourced by the Department of Education and Youth, with ongoing support and teacher professional learning provided by the National Council for Special Education and the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). Casa Caterina has also been included in Strand 2 of the NEPS Counselling and Mental Health Pilot, and has an assigned Education Wellbeing Practitioner (EWP). In the context of critical incident support to the school, NEPS has also engaged with external services and organisations, including the HSE to ensure an aligned interagency response.

The overall HSE Disability Budget for 2026 has seen a growth to €3.8 billion, which equates to a 19% increase from the previous year, indicating Government’s commitment to delivering real and tangible solutions to better support children with disabilities in Ireland.

The National Programme on Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (known as PDS) (2009) is the guiding policy for children’s services. The policy aims to provide for all children with significant disability, regardless of diagnosis, where they live or where they go to school.

The PDS policy led to the establishment of Children’s Disability Network Teams (known as CDNTs), who assess children with complex needs and refer multi-disciplinary supports to meet their needs. 93 CDNTs are currently providing supports for nearly 45,000 children.

The key vehicle for change and improvement is the Roadmap for Service Improvement for Disability Services for Children and Young People. The implementation of this Roadmap is well under way and will continue until 2026.

The Roadmap contains an important set of actions that, collectively, will enhance children’s disability services in Ireland. They include significant measures to integrate and improve access to services, expand the workforce and advance better communication and engagement with families.

Regarding inter-agency collaboration, Working Group 1, Integrated Children’s Services, has completed a Primary Care, Disabilities, CAMHS staff survey on what is working well, what is not, and the solutions to address challenges for full implementation of the National Access Policy and the Primary Care, Disability, CAMHS Joint Working Protocol. Survey learning is now informing the Single Point of Access implementation programme in all regions.

The HSE Tusla Joint Working Protocol (2020) is specifically used to resolve inter-agency and inter-service disagreements over the clinical and financial governance and required decisions for children, and whilst challenges do remain, overall, it has had a positive impact over the past five years.

The current HSE Tusla Joint Working Protocol (JWP) remains in place. There is a review of the JWP (2020) underway in conjunction with Tusla to ensure it is up to date and fit for purpose. This is the second review of the protocol since first issued in 2017; the 2020 version was arrived at after a series of workshops in 2018 and 2019 with staff from both agencies and input from Department of Health and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and by the Office of the Ombudsman for Children.

The current review of the current JWP is nearing completion and will then be supported by the development of joint guidance in several areas to support the ongoing joint working across agencies.

In addition, the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People was published on 3rd September 2025 as the overarching framework for whole-of-government action on disability policy. The First Programme Plan of Action will cover the period 2025-2026, with subsequent plans covering 2027-2028 and 2029-2030 respectively. This will allow for an agile and responsive approach to policy that allows Government to reflexively adapt and address the needs of disabled people as they arise and evolve.

The Department continues to work with the HSE to examine all avenues to improve access to services through the Roadmap and will continue to consider opportunities for innovative practice.