Disability Services Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-16 ============================================================ Emer Higgins (FG), Dublin Mid-West I thank the Senator for raising this important issue, for all of her advocacy on this issue and for her determination to ensure that things improve. I assure her that this is also my determination. The Government fully recognises the importance of providing adequate supports at the right time for children with disabilities throughout the country, including those in County Cavan. As she said, parents are exhausted and need support. That is why the HSE children’s disability services have undergone significant reform and restructuring over the past few years to provide more accessible, family-centred services for children with complex needs. Progress is being made, although I appreciate it is not being made fast enough. At the end of March 2026, 45,472 children with complex needs were receiving supports from the children’s disability network teams. This progress is also reflected in reductions in waiting lists, which fell by 28% in 2025. While this shows movement in the right direction, it is important to acknowledge that significant work remains to address waiting times and unmet needs. In the national service plan for this year, the HSE has committed to a further 25% reduction in waiting times because at the centre of this remains a clear goal, which is to ensure that no child will wait longer than 12 months for the service they need, while also recognising that, over time, we must go even further. At the moment, many children registered with children’s disability network teams, including those on waiting lists and on open caseloads, are still waiting for some aspects of the support or services they need. As with other areas, disability services within the Cavan-Monaghan integrated health area, IHA, are continuing to experience significant recruitment challenges, as the Senator said. We have a clear need for more qualified healthcare staff nationally and internationally. There are two CDNTs in the Cavan-Monaghan IHA. In Cavan, the HSE is the lead agency, while Enable Ireland leads the CDNT in Monaghan. At the end of May, the team in Cavan had a vacancy rate of 32%, with a total number of staff of 19.35 whole-time equivalents. At the end of May, 226 children were waitlisted for services from the CDNT, with 394 children on an open caseload. Some 264 children, and in many instances their families, received an intervention during May, with 1,003 direct and indirect supports provided to children and their families during the month. The Senator mentioned that in some cases, people were going through a course they had been on previously. I have received that feedback and I am taking it on board. Using the available funding, the Cavan CDNT has put a number of measures in place to help manage waiting lists. That includes outsourcing assessments, where possible. As the Senator said, it includes engaging private providers in crisis cases where there are vacancies in disciplines and making temporary staffing adjustments, such as in senior or staff grade and therapy assistant roles, to maintain capacity. I am concerned to hear the Senator describe what sounds like inefficiencies. I ask that the Senator follow up with me directly in relation to the particular example she gave. I will seek some information and clarity on that. As the Senator said in her contribution, staffing levels have improved over the past year, allowing the team to begin to work through the longest waiters now. Recruitment remains ongoing. Agencies and local advertising are being used where needed. There are plans to re-establish student placements as capacity allows. More generally, there is a strong focus across Government on filling vacant posts across the 93 CDNTs as quickly as possible. Additional funding has been put in place to build capacity and to reduce wait times, including the €8 million in this budget to fund a further 150 posts. This is starting to have an impact, with the HSE reporting a 28% increase in staffing nationwide between October 2023 and October 2025. That would equate to an additional 448 whole-time equivalents, and 321 of those are additional health and social care professionals. Recruitment is continuing both at home and internationally alongside wider workforce initiatives to support the long-term growth of the children’s disability network teams. The HSE will also be developing a dedicated disability workforce strategy this year to help tackle ongoing recruitment and retention challenges such as those the Senator has described. While we recognise there is more to do, there is very clear momentum, not just across the HSE but also across the Government and the HSE's funded agencies to strengthen services, grow the workforce and improve access for the children who really need it. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-16/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:03+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-16