Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I thank Deputy Carrigy for raising this important issue in relation to Longford. I cannot speak about the individual position because I have only just become aware of it but I will find out for the Deputy. More broadly, it is not acceptable to have vacant positions. We have vacancies in the health service and we need them to be filled. We need that for the supports that children in particular need. However, I would point to the fact that I asked the CEO of the HSE to put specific measures in place to address OT, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy waiting lists and reduce them to less than ten months. We started that initiative in quarter 4 of 2025 and I am pleased to say that the primary care therapies lists declined by approximately 15,000 between September 2025 and November 2025. This is an important reduction but that can only be expedited and augmented if we are recruiting for positions such as the one the Deputy described. I will follow up on it and find out what is happening.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21