Disability Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-08
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Emer Higgins (FG), Dublin Mid-West

I thank all three Deputies for raising this really important issue and giving me the opportunity to respond. As the Minister of State with responsibility for disability, I, along with the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Government, fully recognise the importance of providing timely and appropriate supports for people with disabilities and their families. We are committed to improving access to these services across the country, including for children and families in Waterford and the south east.
The HSE children's disability services team has undergone significant reform and restructuring over the past few years. The core focus of these changes has been to ensure children with complex needs and their families receive an appropriate and accessible family-centred service. HSE preliminary data for March 2026 indicates our CDNTs are providing services and supports nationally for 45,472 children and strategies and supports for wait-listed children with urgent needs, where staffing resources allow.
These are encouraging in terms of the numbers of children receiving support but there has also been encouraging progress in the numbers on our waiting lists reducing. In that same period, the national CDNT waiting list has reduced by 50% from 16,522 children in 2023 to 8,200 children at the end of March this year. In the national services plan for this year, the HSE is committed to a further 25% reduction in the numbers on our waiting lists. The HSE preliminary data to the end of March this year indicates that for Dublin and the south-east health region, which is the region all three Deputies represent, 6,834 children are on open CDNT caseloads or are receiving services, and a waiting list of 2,078 children remains. The children's disability network team in Waterford and the south east continues to provide services and supports for children from birth to 18 years of age. I would like to pay tribute to all the staff working in our CDNT teams, not just in that region but across Ireland.
Like many areas across the country, they continue to face recruitment and retention challenges across a range of health and social care professions. As Deputy Ó Súilleabháin pointed out, in the north west and in south Wicklow, there is a particular issue with dietitians; as Deputy McGuinness pointed out, in Dungarvan, there is a particular issue in terms of speech and language therapists; and as Deputy Newsome Drennan pointed out, while in south Kilkenny there are high vacancy rates, in Kilkenny, there are not. There are areas where vacancy rates are higher and we will be prioritising the teams with the highest vacancy rates when it comes to allocation of additional resources. Services are operating under significant pressure. That is as a result of those vacancy rates and also the demand. While teams continue to work hard to meet the needs of the children and families, workforce shortages can impact the capacity to provide assessments therapies and interventions. This can slow things down and, ultimately, everybody wants that sped up. Unfortunately, children on the CDNT register, whether they are on waiting lists or on an open caseload, are likely to be waiting some time in terms of intervention. That is a direct result of those issues, which we are determined to overcome. I acknowledge the frustration this can cause for children and their families.
The HSE and CDNT lead agencies are continuing to work actively and collaboratively to recruit into funded posts to strengthen workforce capacity and support staff retention across the sector. We have provided funding for additional posts in recent years to enhance the capacity of teams and reduce waiting lists. Most recently, €8 million was secured in this year's budget to support the recruitment of 150 additional posts for CDNT teams. As I said, priority will be given to the teams with which there are the highest vacancy waiting lists.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-08/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-08