Disability (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Carol Nolan (IND), Offaly

The starting point for any discussion on this Bill must be the reality facing families in Offaly. Last year, I revealed that 525 children across the children's disability networks serving County Offaly were waiting for an assessment of need. Families are entitled to ask why, after years of reviews, strategies and reform programmes, waiting lists remain unacceptably high and legal timelines continue to be breached. The State's first duty must be to ensure that children receive assessments and supports when they need them and not years later. The experience of families across Offaly demonstrates that disability services remain under immense pressure. While the Bill focuses heavily on assessment processes, legislators must be honest about the real issue. The greatest challenge is not paperwork or procedure but the chronic shortage of qualified professionals available to deliver the services that are so badly needed.
Recent information I received from the HSE highlights clearly just how severe the staffing crisis has become. The sole speech and language therapist post serving adults with intellectual disabilities across Laois and Offaly has remained vacant since May 2023, with repeated recruitment efforts unsuccessful and no clear timelines for filling the position. I was appalled to learn that the same strategy - the same recruitment procedure - that had clearly failed was still in place after three years, it appears that this issue was not escalated to senior management of the HSE, and people were expected to wait. I am appalled by this because it is nothing short of neglect. I feel there are solutions. I have mentioned lots of times in this Chamber that therapists need to be redeployed into Offaly from regions where it is not as bad as this. Laois and Offaly are definitely the worst in the State when it comes to the lack of therapists. Of course, I commend the therapists we have, who are trying to hold a broken system together, but they need help. I cannot understand why therapists from the other CHO areas, where there is not a backlog, cannot be brought in in addition to private therapists. People are really being failed, and it is appalling and unfair to continue with such an approach. The fact that a key disability service can remain without a specialist provision for more than three years should be a wake-up call as to how urgent the situation is in County Offaly and County Laois. It raises profound questions about workforce planning, staff retention and the ability of the State to meet even basic standards of care.
Any reform of the assessment of need process will fail if the Government does not address recruitment and retention. Assessments alone do not help children and adults unless the therapists, psychologists and specialists needed to provide services are actually in place and available. Front-line staff continue to work under immense pressure and deserve the recognition for their commitment, as I have previously stated. The failures within disability services stem from systemic workforce shortages, not from the dedication of professionals on the ground.
I ask that Offaly be made a priority because we have too many failures. We have struggled for many years with the lack of speech and language therapists and the lack of occupational therapists. I had a case earlier this year where an elderly gentleman who had worked all his life and paid his taxes was waiting and waiting for a basic assessment to be carried out. Nine medical referrals were sent on his behalf. That is shocking. We need to collaborate and we need to put solutions in place urgently. I call for my county of Offaly to be prioritised with therapists.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23