Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17
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David Cullinane (SF), Waterford

I recently met the parents of children with disabilities where the children are either on a list or attending the Waterford south city children’s disability network team. I find these meetings very difficult because the story is always the same, unfortunately, with parents battling for access to services and children missing out on developmental supports. What they told me in relation to this team is shocking. We know there are staff shortages across many CDNTs but this CDNT has no psychologist, has had no nurse – or at least the parents have not had access to a nurse for over a year – no dietician and the number of occupational therapists has reduced from two to one. Even the most basic supports like incontinence pads were not being made available to parents for those children. It is truly shocking that parents have to battle for the most basic services. I ask the Minister to look at what is going on in that particular CDNT. It is obviously a problem across all CDNTs. They are not fully staffed. We have children across Waterford city whose parents are battling. Those children are missing out on developmental supports because the staff are not there. It is not good enough and I ask the Minister to raise it with the relevant Minister.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-17