Disability Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-23
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Grace Boland (FG), Dublin Fingal West

I very much welcome the investment in disability services, funding for additional posts and the allocation for behavioural supports and speech and language therapy. However, when I look at the raw figures, I see that every single post for Balbriggan is underfunded. We are supposed to have six occupational therapists but there are only five; instead of five speech and language therapists, we only have 3.6; there are two physiotherapists rather than four; and we have two psychologists instead of four. It is a similar picture for Swords, with only one psychologist in place instead of four. As the Minister of State knows, early intervention is absolutely key to addressing the issues we are discussing and to supporting children and their families. While posts have been allocated, we do not have people in post. As I repeatedly highlight, it is absolutely essential that Fingal be prioritised for posts at CDNT level.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23