Vol. 1069 No. 1
76. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the steps she is taking to ensure that children with disabilities receive early intervention and treatment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32482/25]
Early intervention is critical. I want to ask about CDNT vacancies. What is the number of vacancies? What is the percentage of vacant posts throughout the CDNT network? What are the long-term and short-term strategies to address recruitment issues?
The Government recognises the importance of early intervention for children with disabilities and ensuring they receive the right services at the right time. Under the programme for Government, we are committed to ensuring children and their families who need early intervention and therapy input can access it in a timely way.
The key vehicle for change and improvement is the roadmap for service improvement for disability services for children and young people. The implementation of this roadmap is well under way and will continue until 2026. The roadmap contains an important set of actions that, collectively, will enhance children’s disability services in Ireland. They include significant measures to integrate and improve access to services, expand the workforce and advance better communication and engagement with families. A key part of this work has been the improvement of access to services through the CDNTs. They are providing supports and services to more than 43,000 children.
I fully acknowledge that there is still a lot more to do. Recruitment and retention of health and social care professionals is the most significant challenge and work is ongoing to increase staffing levels. The HSE has advised that the most recent CDNT workforce survey available was conducted in April. This survey demonstrates an overall national increase of an additional 8% in staffing in CDNTs, compared with the workforce at the review in October 2024. This brings the total number of whole-time equivalents to 2,009. The Department is working with the HSE to introduce specific recruitment and retention incentives for therapists to work in CDNTs, including a sponsorship initiative and facilitating direct access for funded agencies to existing professional panels.
How many vacancies do we have in the CDNTs? What is the number? What is the percentage? What are the strategies on this? The Minister of State alluded earlier to the strategy being recruitment in secondary schools. Am I right in saying this? Are we to believe the crisis will not be solved for a number of years? What are we doing to entice the wonderful graduates in this field who are now in Australia, Canada and the UAE? What strategy does the Minister of State have in place to bring these people home? This is the quickest way to unlock the crisis.
We are doing a number of things in recruitment and retention. We have bursaries in place. We are opening up HSE panels. We have HSE advertising streams. We also have a number of fairs, including one in May where one of the top priorities was to recruit people and to introduce people to social care therapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. We have 150 extra therapists going through our third level institutions and there will be more again this year. We are looking at therapy assistants. We have therapists going into our special schools. We also have incentives for therapists to work in our CDNTs. We have more than €10 million in funding. Additional funding has been made available by the Government for children's services. This funding focuses on recruiting various positions in CDNTs, including 20 senior therapists, 20 staff grade posts, 20 health and social care assistant posts and 15 clinical training posts. Measures are also being taken to assist with sustainably addressing the backlog in the assessment of needs.
I have to say if I were a parent listening to this I would be incredibly frustrated. The Minister of State has, perhaps, a mid- to long-term plan but very little to alleviate the crisis today. There is a window of opportunity. These children will miss their targets. They will be significantly disadvantaged. For some it will mean the difference between being able to live independently or not. We have many wonderful professionals abroad. They are living abroad for many reasons. The Minister of State has not answered the question so I assume she has no plan to bring them home.
I will give an example. I spoke to a number of psychologists who had to leave this country to get training because there were not enough assistant psychologists posts available. These people are highly educated. They completed their doctorates in places such as Britain. The HSE does not have a clear pathway to bring these people home. One psychologist has been trying to work in the HSE for more than a year and has been met with bureaucracy and red tape.
Go raibh maith agat.
This is the type of proactive solution and policy I want the Minister of State to address. These are wonderful Irish graduates-----
Go raibh maith agat a Theachta.
-----some of whom graduated with their basic degree in Ireland. They went away for doctoral training.
Go raibh maith agat a Theachta.
The HSE is not welcoming them home. Meanwhile we have a crisis today.
I assure Deputy Lawless that absolutely everything is being done. What is happening now is what I have just listed out. We also have domestic and international recruitment drives happening all the time, as we speak. We also have an expedited CORU registration process from this year. This is specifically for people who may have trained abroad and want to come here to work. We want to expedite this process. It has already been expedited. We are looking at absolutely everything. If there are particular cases, and Deputy Lawless is aware of particular people who are having issues with coming home or registering, my door is open. I absolutely assure him from a Government point of view there is a Cabinet committee that meets very regularly on recruitment drives and higher education. In-school therapists will be in place in September. The programme has been up and running since the Minister and I were in the Department of education. We want to roll this out. It is all about making sure that children and adults have access to therapists. We know there is big demand. We are lucky to have full employment in the country. With that comes these issues. Absolutely everything is being thrown at this. If Deputy Lawless has suggestions on what we can do, my door is open.
Will the Minister engage with me on this?
Deputy Lawless can come back to me afterwards.
77. Deputy Catherine Callaghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the extent to which parents of adult children with a disability are consulted with regard to a future plan for their child; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32193/25]
I would like an update on the extent to which parents or next-of-kin of adult children with a disability are consulted on future care and the provision they receive.
I thank the Deputy. On 26 April 2023, the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, along with most of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022, were commenced, replacing the wards of court system. That Act places individuals at the centre of decisions that affect them and provides for the necessary supports to enable persons with capacity difficulties to retain control over their own affairs and the decisions that affect them. One of the principles of the Act is that a person is presumed to have capacity to make a decision unless it is shown otherwise. A third party, such as a parent or other family member, does not have an automatic entitlement to be involved. Where a person’s capacity to make a particular decision is in question, or may shortly be in question, their capacity is assessed specifically regarding that decision. This is known as a functional capacity assessment, whereby capacity is assessed on an issue- and time-specific basis. A person may lack capacity to make one decision but have capacity to make another decision. All practicable steps must be taken to help the relevant person whose capacity is being called into question to make their own decisions, and the relevant person’s capacity to make a specific decision must only be assessed if they are still unable to make the decision after such supports have been provided. Service providers must work to enable a person to make their decision through the use of supports appropriate to their capacity to make that decision. Where persons lack decision-making capacity and require decision-making supports to meet their ongoing needs, they can seek to put in place a decision support arrangement under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015. The HSE has prepared a suite of person-centred plan resources for people with a disability, their families and service providers across adult disability services. I am not sure if that is what the Deputy specifically referred to, but that is the recent Act.
I thank the Minister of State. The future and provision of care as to how a parent's or guardian's loved ones will be looked after, particularly after they have passed, is something that keeps people up at night. The appointment of decision-making capacity and assistance with it is important, but there needs to be an element of understanding that the next of kin, where there is one, is given the opportunity to assist in that regard. What we do in the present will give a sense of confidence as to what will happen in the future. One issue that has been raised with me frequently in recent times is the wait times for assessment and delays in applications for people who are already in a healthcare setting, particularly where someone is in a residential care setting for the elderly, but may be of a younger age and may not need a facility to that extent, and are not stimulated or motivated by it. We need to ensure that we are giving confidence to loved ones within families in that regard to ensure their more vulnerable family members are being adequately looked after.
As the Deputy was speaking, I was reminded of people in a similar situation who have come into my constituency office. Often they are parents who have a grown-up adult child. Their question is what will happen to their child when the parents pass away. We cannot always answer those questions, but they will be looked after. It is all about this forward planning and having the data.
As the Deputy knows, we are working on a national disability strategy, which will be published over the coming weeks. These are the questions I want us to be able to answer during the term of this Government and to set out a vision regarding these services, to make sure that families and people with disabilities know where they are going and have that person-centred plan in place. On 29 May 2024, the HSE launched a suite of person-centred plan resources for people with disabilities, their families and service providers. That was a good learning module. It is something we want to do, but we need the data to forward plan and to know. We need a mapping exercise across the country regarding the facilities within the Deputy's county and my county in order that people know where they can go for day or residential care. We have to look toward independent living.
I acknowledge the efforts the Minister of State has made in this area. I recently met with the Muiríosa Foundation. The work it does in this space is commendable and is very welcome in terms of the initiatives it is bringing forward, particularly to encourage individuals with a disability into the workplace, into education and into different services. There is an element of needing to ensure there is an adequate service there to meet that level of dependency. Local employers are providing a couple of hours of work a day to get people out of the house and give them a sense of routine. It is rewarding for more than just the individual who is receiving that opportunity to get into the workplace. We need to see more initiatives such as that. Everything we do in this space today will reassure those family members about the days in the future when they may not necessarily be around to look after them. I acknowledge the work the Minister of State has done, but the timeframe for assessment, such as psychiatric reports from doctors or otherwise, needs to be done in a timely manner. We need to continue to work on the services that we are providing.
It is a huge issue for families who want to plan for their child with a disability. As we know, many of them are dealing with children who have huge challenges. I agree with the Deputy that we have all dealt with issues where it relates to the bureaucracy. There is an issue in ensuring that assessments are made within a decent time. We know that a number of people, agencies and whoever else have had issues where cases have had to be resolved by court, and we are talking about a log-jammed court system. What is being doing with regard to reviewing this process to streamline it and make it work for everybody? We want to be able to support the person with a disability, but we also need to make sure that we have a system that is fit for purpose and that we engage with all necessary stakeholders, particularly when we are talking about families who provide huge support, alongside those who work within the services as well. We do not need what we intend to be a solution to become a problem.
Both Deputies have raised important points. For example, when somebody is leaving the school setting, there needs to be a transition. We are doing work in that regard. The person-centred plan has been developed with each person, his or her family and his or her support person, looking at ensuring that this person with a disability is making informed choices about what he or she wants to do, be it a job, training or a day service. A few weeks ago, the Ministers, Deputies Foley and Calleary, and I launched the wage subsidy scheme, which incentivises employers to employ people with disabilities. Sometimes that is the obstacle. At other times, the obstacle is the transport for the person to get to the job and the job is not the issue. That is why this national disability strategy that we are working on will include areas such as this regarding transitions from school into the workplace and day centres and how we can support people to be able to live independently in their own homes, to get a job and to make their own personal choices. I take on board the issues the Deputies raised regarding timely assessments. I will be following up on that.
78. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of new childcare providers who have entered the sector in each of the past five years; the number of childcare providers who have left the sector in each of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32214/25]
One issue that always arises during my weekly clinics in County Clare is the lack of childcare places. This is such an enormous stress for almost all working parents. An adequate level of such facilities is important from an educational perspective, but also as critical enablers for parents to join the workforce. Will the Minister provide a breakdown of the number of childcare providers that have entered and left the sector over the last five years?
I thank the Deputy. Every year it is normal for some services to open and for some services to close. The year 2024 saw a five-year high in the number of childcare services opening and a five-year low in the number of early learning and childcare services closing. A total of 357 services opened, while 131 services closed, which resulted in a net increase of 226 childcare services opening in 2024. There have been year-on-year increases in the number of childcare services opening since registration of school-age childcare began in 2019. The register and related data are updated monthly by Tusla and reported to my Department the following month. The data I have available from Tusla from the end of 2024 indicates a total of 5,106 childcare services were registered with Tusla at that time.
Last year, as I mentioned, there was a net increase of 226 childcare services and previous years also saw net increases in the number of childcare services. The net increase and total number of childcare services was 46, 51, 30 and 129 in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. Year on year, we are seeing a net increase and that is testament to the significant amount of State funding going into this sector to support providers, while also ensuring we have additional places and staff who are appropriately remunerated.
Having spoken to several childcare providers, the main concern for the viability of the sector is staff retention. I am not surprised, given the information I have received. I understand an SNA can be applied to a primary school having completed a 12-week certificate course, while a childcare educator must have a minimum FETAC level 5 qualification, which is a one to two year process.
A childcare educator is paid an average of €4 per hour with less work, more hours and lower holiday entitlements. It is no wonder the staff in this sector feel undervalued and are walking away in significant numbers. Childcare facilities are the foundation stone for the growth, development and education journey of all children. I ask the Minister to give serious consideration to a root-and-branch review of how these facilities and staff are valued and funded and to bring their level of bureaucracy in line with other education services such as our primary schools, for example.
I thank the Deputy. To be clear, I am under no illusions regarding the importance of retaining staff in this sector. I have been clear on that from the outset. We can make all the progress we want in having additional places and more accommodations available but if we do not have staff working in the sector, we achieve nothing at all.
Suffice to say, the Government has put €45 million on the table for this year that is ring-fenced, solely for the purpose of ensuring there will be an increase in wages for staff working in the sector. The decision on that, however, is a matter for the joint labour committee which is independent of the Government. I have met committee members on a couple of occasions and have been clear on my personal view on all that funding being used for staff but it will be an independent decision. Nevertheless, I am very clear about the importance of paying staff appropriately.
I thank the Minister for her positive reply. I wish to raise one final point with the Minister regarding extra capacity that may be within the system without any extra facilities, highlighted by this direct quote from the manager of one facility:
Allocation of a blanket of 45 hours childcare per week to a family without full consideration of their circumstances is completely clogging up the system. I regularly see 45 hours allocated to families with one or both parents at home for whatever reason. While every child should have an allocation of hours for socialisation, the allocation of 45 hours per week while a parent or parents are home should be discouraged. This facility could potentially take another 30 children off the waiting list if the process around how hours are allocated were re-examined.
I suggest the Minister examine this process to see if an amendment would deliver taking extra childcare spaces in the short term.
While the pay and conditions of staff are incredibly important, the physical buildings in which they operate are also important. While I particularly welcome the building blocks programme which was an important initiative, the Minister and I know the limitations of that. We could do with a few more bob from the Department of public expenditure - if it was giving it to the Minister - but also for the cap on it. Unfortunately, in Dublin, the €750,000 cap prevents some of the really good, experienced, community-led childcare programmes from expanding. I ask the Minister to continue to do all she can in this area in providing more capital funding, as well the pay and conditions for staff.
I thank Deputies Cooney and McAuliffe. I will go to the last question first. The building blocks scheme has been positively welcomed and will deliver an additional 1,500 places, which is hugely important. The budget available for that was €25 million and I appreciate this brings its own constraints but it is delivering 1,500 additional places. As I previously outlined, we are also working on payment for staff with the money being ring-fenced and put on the table being the €45 million.
Specifically on Deputy Cooney's question, it is very difficult to determine families who have different needs at different times and therefore may require longer or lesser hours in a childcare facility. It is a matter for parents in this respect because we do not know their individual circumstances but I hear the point he raises.
79. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measures being taken to address the shortage of after-school childcare places in the mid-Cork region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32414/25]
Parents in different parts of mid-Cork have raised with me the difficulty they have in getting available after-school childcare. They are possibly travelling long distances or waiting a long time to get a place, if they are lucky enough to do so. Could the Minister outline what steps are being taken to make available additional places across mid-Cork?
I acknowledge the Deputy's question which specifically asks about after-school and general childcare places.
Early learning and childcare capacity is increasing, which is an important point to make at the outset. The estimated number of enrolments increased by approximately 19% between 2022 and 2024. Enrolments in Cork county and city each increased by almost 29% in the same period. Core funding application data shows between years one and three of the scheme, annual place hours increased by more than 15%. The growth in school age childcare plans has been particularly strong. Data from Tusla shows there was an increase of 34 services on the school-age register in Cork alone in 2024.
We continue to support sustainability and expansion of the sector through ongoing development and resourcing of core funding, which has given rise to a significant expansion of places since the scheme was first introduced. Core funding supports providers with operating costs based on the number of places available.
A forward planning and delivery unit within the Department has been expanded, with the allocation of additional staff in its pursuit of an ambitious programme of work. For the first time, the programme for Government commits to providing capital investment to build or purchase State-owned early learning and childcare facilities to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. The programme for Government also sets out the ambition to work with schools to host before- and after-school childcare in school buildings, as well as planning the development of State-led early learning and childcare facilities in tandem with the school building programme.
Last year, the Department of education published procedures on the use of school property and sports facilities outside of school hours - I was keen to publish this and did so last year. This guideline provides encouragement and guidance to schools to make available facilities for early learning and childcare and other community purposes when the space is not required by the school. Officials have met several times with officials from the Department of education planning and building unit to share expertise and information on this.
Last August in Cloghduff, the only provider in that area withdrew from the core funding and left local parents in a very difficult position. This is an area that has seen considerable building of houses in recent years with more homes currently under construction and strong demand for childcare nearby. Another mum was in contact with me who said she had signed up with nine different facilities, chasing after school services around Ballincollig, Cross Barry and the Farran area. She was told it would be 2026 before she could expect a place to be available. She wants to work full-time which is a real challenge for her due to the lack of after-school childcare. There is a similar situation for a mum in Millstreet working in the Cork area.
Are there recognised black spots and particular measures which could be there to support parents in these areas?
We absolutely recognise that there are areas across the country where it is extremely challenging for the needs of parents to be met. For this reason, the Department is taking a number of initiatives, such as the building blocks extension scheme to provide assistance for an existing provider to put on an extension and to provide for more places. Where that is not a possibility and where no provider is in place, there is a commitment in the programme for Government to introduce State-led facilities. There would be a public model for the purchasing or building of a facility to provide for the needs in an area. To support this work, there is now a forward planning unit in the Department, specifically looking at areas of the country where there is an absence of facilities. Where that is found to be the case, the Department will step in to provide the public model.
Tá dúshlán breise ag pobal na Gaeltachta toisc go dteastaíonn uainn ár dteanga a thabhairt slán don chéad ghlúin eile. Is baolach gurb amhlaidh go bhfuil níos lú roghanna againn dá bharr sin. Ní féidir taisteal chomh fada agus níl an rogha céanna ann. Tá muintir Ré na nDoirí ag lorg ionad cúram leanaí a chur ar fáil chun freastal ar dhaoine tar éis scoile. Tá muintir Bhéal Átha an Ghaorthaidh tar éis a bheith ag streachailt le heaspa foirgnimh ar feadh i bhfad, Tá gá le hionad cúram leanaí i mBaile Bhuirne chomh maith. An féidir a chinntiú go mbeidh tacaíocht chuí ar fáil do thuismitheoirí sna pobail seo?
Gaeltacht communities have a particular and added difficulty in ensuring facilities are available through Irish. Can the appropriate support be provided to parents in Béal Átha an Ghaorthaidh, where they have struggled with a building recently? Families in Ré na nDoirí have plans to develop an after-school facility, which is needed in Baile Bhuirne as well.
Like the previous speaker, people have been contacting me from Ballincollig and surrounding areas to outline how they cannot get after-school placements or crèche facilities for their children. They are searching in mid-Cork and coming in to the city. I spoke to a lady recently who said that she had secured a childminder for the summer but that if she does not have a crèche and after-school facilities to mind her child in September, she will have to give up work. This lady and her husband must decide which of them will give up work because they cannot find care for their child in a crèche or somewhere after school, because they have other children as well. These are people who want to work and are doing everything right. The situation they find themselves in is unbelievable. One of them will have to give up work come September or the end of August, when the kids go back to school. What a situation they are going to be in.
I will begin by addressing Deputy Gould's points. The express purpose last year of introducing the guidelines to schools was to ensure that they would have a freedom, at the end of the school day, to introduce things like after-school provision. As part of the guidelines, schools were informed that any funding they received through that would not impact on any grants they received from the Department of Education. It would a matter entirely for themselves to hold so that boards of management would feel that they had a freedom if it was their wish to provide after-school activities by having a provider step in, or whatever. I am just pointing out that this is a reality. Also, the public model I referred to earlier is looking at instances where no capacity is available in a particular area.
Tuigim go bhfuil gá le háiseanna a chur ar fáil trí mhean na Gaeilge freisin. I completely understand that there is a need for facilities that work through the medium of Irish to be provided for. This is not just in terms of childcare but also includes a range of facilities that fall within the remit of the Department. That is a hugely important initiative.
80. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality regarding Tusla services in County Clare, the number of social workers employed; the number of vacancies for social workers; the length of time those positions have been vacant, the number of children with no allocated social worker; the number of children in need of either foster or residential care who are not currently placed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32215/25]
Recently, I had discussions with a number of people who have engaged with Tusla's alternative services in Clare. What I heard about the type and level of care being provided for some of the most vulnerable children in our society caused me great concern. I am here to get some answers as to the number of social workers, the number of vacancies, the turnover rate for social workers in Clare and the number of children who have no allocated social worker and who are currently placed in foster or residential care.
The Department funds the provision of a range of Tusla services in County Clare, including family resource centres in Shannon, Kilrush, Ennistymon and Killaloe. These services do great work with children and families throughout Clare, and I am delighted to be able to support that work. According to information provided by Tusla on the number of social workers in Clare, I have been informed that 20 social workers are currently employed in the county. Three vacancies exist, and I understand that Tusla has undertaken a number of initiatives to address these vacancies, which are expected to be filled over the summer months. These vacancies originate from October 2023, May 2024 and June of this year.
While I acknowledge the efforts Tusla has made to resolve these specific vacancies, I am aware of the difficulties the agency has faced in recruiting and retaining social workers across the country, while child protection referral rates continue to increase year on year. In that context, Tusla has informed me that there are currently 77 children with no allocated social worker in County Clare. However, I understand that all of these children have been allocated a social care worker, and I am informed that all urgent cases receive a social work service. However, I acknowledge the critical importance of children in care, or in need of child welfare and protection services, being allocated a social worker.
The Department has actively engaged with Tusla and other stakeholders with regard to addressing issues relating to the supply, recruitment and retention of social workers. A significant range of initiatives have been undertaken in this regard, and Tusla achieved a national increase of almost 5% in social work employment levels between March 2024 and March 2025, with 79 whole-time equivalents.
In respect of the Deputy’s query regarding the availability of care placements, Tusla has indicated that there are currently 11 children awaiting residential or foster care in County Clare. I am informed that Tusla has placed all these children in residential respite, short-term fostering or supported lodgings. It is a shared aim of the Department and Tusla to provide a significant and sufficient number of high-quality placements to children in care, and specific actions are being undertaken in this regard.
I have heard about a very low number of social workers and extremely high rates of staff burnout and staff turnover in Clare. This has resulted in severely traumatised children being handed from one social worker to another, with little or no continuity of care. I have heard of children with a foster family or residential placement being put into special emergency arrangements, through the out-of-hours service. This only operates from 6 p.m., as the Minister is aware, and children can be placed anywhere around the country. Social worker staff have to transport these very vulnerable children from to Clare to wherever a place is available, perhaps in Donegal, Cork or wherever else.
Concerns have been raised with me that some that some of these providers may be unregulated and that the care being provided may not be the most appropriate for the needs of these children. I have heard from foster families who have to deal with increasingly complex care needs of vulnerable children who have been left without appropriate levels of support. I ask the Minister for an update.
I confirm that the Department allocated additional funding to Tusla in 2023 and 2024 and there was record investment in 2025. This included increased capital investment.
Regarding foster care, 87.2% of all children in State care are cared for in the foster care setting. I cannot overstate the importance of this. It is a great opportunity for children to be placed in the foster care setting, which is excellent. In recognition of that, even though it is at 82.7%, which is high, we want it to be higher. The Department has overseen significant investment in foster care supports, including the foster care allowance. This has been increased to €400 per week for children under 12 and €425 per week for children over 12. Today, there was an announcement in relation to the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. In addition, budget 2025 provided further investment and support directed towards children in foster care. This included an initial payment at the start of each foster care placement.
I thank the Minister, but everything I have heard on the ground tells me that the system is broken. A review of the issues I have highlighted is needed to make a start on improving things. Good people across the county are holding on by their fingertips and will leave unless a real attempt is made to address their concerns.
These children need consistency in social worker staff in order to make progress. That is not happening because staff are walking away on a continual basis due to the pressure of a complex workload, limited resources and a crumbling system. They are firefighting and it is impossible to sustain. The children need secure long-term accommodation. Foster families do wonderful work providing it. They provide complex care to some of the most vulnerable children in the country. They are not being supported properly and they are walking away. The lack of continuity of care is having a profound impact on the welfare of the children involved. It is the responsibility of the State to deliver and it is failing.
As I said at the outset, there are 20 social workers in County Clare. All of the three current vacancies are due to be filled this summer, depending on whether they relate to a career break, maternity leave or whatever else, so they will be at their full capacity of 23 social workers.
I recognise the invaluable work of social workers. Across the country, there is a lack of social workers available to us. It is for that reason that social work, per se, is on the critical skills list of the Department of enterprise. It is also for that reason that new routes to social work training are in place. In UCC there is an apprenticeship model of earn-as-you-learn. That is very important because the wider we can cast the net for people to become involved in this field of work, the better. Some 320 additional places are being provided in further and higher education this year alone, and a significant number of them are in the area of social work.
81. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the steps taken to reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per month, to date in 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32101/25]
Ireland's best asset is our hard-working men and women. It is crucial that we fund childcare as an essential infrastructure. I know this is something we have talked about many times before. The Minister might give us an update on what she has done to reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per month and what she plans to do to make sure we achieve it over the lifetime of the Government.
I appreciate the Deputy's ongoing engagement with me on this matter. She will be aware that earlier this month I announced the introduction of maximum fee caps for all partner services in core funding from September 2025. The fee freeze will remain in place for all partner services with fees below these caps. This is an important step towards the reduction of childcare fees to €200 per month over the lifetime of this Government.
Maximum fee caps were introduced for new services last year, and this September they will be extended to existing services also. Under the new fee caps, the highest possible fees will be no more than €295 per week for a full-day place of 40 to 50 hours per week. Once the national childcare scheme subsidy is taken into account, the maximum fee for a parent in this situation will be less than €200 per week.
This latest measure builds on a range of supports already in place. The ECCE programme provides two years of preschool without charge and has participation rates of 96%. More than 70% of families say that if it was not a free service they would never have been able to access it.
The national childcare scheme, NCS, complements ECCE, giving universal and targeted subsidies to reduce costs to parents. Recent improvements include the extension of the universal subsidy to children under 15 and two increases to the minimum hourly subsidy, now worth €96.30 per week for 45 hours. Almost 220,000 children benefited from a subsidy in 2024. Since last September, children in childminding settings can also benefit from national childcare scheme subsidies.
In addition, the fee management system introduced through core funding has made sure the investment in affordability is not absorbed by unnecessary fee increases. Core funding has enjoyed high participation rates to date, with 92% of services taking part.
Preparations for the first Estimates process for this Government are under way and I am committed to bringing forward proposals to make further progress in this area. Work is also under way to develop an action plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early learning and childcare system, informed by stakeholder consultation. This will set out future steps to reduce the cost of childcare further to €200 per month.
I very much welcome the work that has been done to date. As I stated, I hope we deliver the reduction in childcare of the lifetime of this Government, as it is essential.
I also highlighted with the Minister that it is not just the cost that is an issue for many parents who are trying to access childcare; it is also the access to childcare. As she is aware, I live in the youngest area in the country. Many parents like myself in Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush and Lusk simply do not have access to the childcare they need. Demand far outstrips supply, which is why I very much welcome the establishment of the forward planning and delivery unit. The Minister might give us an update on the progress of this unit and on when we will see high-pressure areas like my constituency of Dublin Fingal West start to see the benefits of the work of this unit, particularly in the delivery of more childcare places.
I thank the Deputy very much. I acknowledge that she has consistently raised the very specific challenges in her area. She is correct that the cost of childcare is one thing; the remuneration of staff is another element of it; and there is also the availability of places or access to places. In that respect, there are a number of different initiatives. We already discussed that two weeks ago when we announced the Building Blocks scheme, which was of benefit to some, although not all, and will deliver an additional 1,500 places. The forward planning unit is an important unit within the Department. Work is currently under way to specifically identify an absence of provision. Other Deputies have identified places in their constituencies where there is an absence of provision; in other words, where there is greater demand than the provision that is available. That work is under way. Its purpose is to identify the areas and then to provide a stream of funding for a public model, whereby the State will step in to buy or build new childcare facilities.
The building blocks scheme was welcome, but the eligibility criteria are limited and many private providers could not apply for it. The Minister might consider reopening the scheme and widening the eligibility criteria to enable private providers to apply. There are very few public childcare providers in Dublin Fingal West. I would love to see that being prioritised for delivery in the roll-out of the scheme. The Minister should please let me know if there is anything I can do to support it. I very much hope she gets the funding she needs in budget 2026.
I very much welcome the childcare supports and subsidies. It is critically important that we reduce the cost.
I also want to raise with the Minister a poll by Amárach Research in 2024, which found that 69% of mothers with children under the age of 18 would prefer to stay at home if they could afford it. In addition, 76% of mothers felt that their work in the home is undervalued compared to work in society. We know that women who stay at home to look after their children provide a very valuable service to their families, the community and the economy. Many mothers have children with disabilities and it is a necessity for them to provide additional care, particularly in light of the lack of services that are available from the State. What amount of the additional funding presided over by the Minister in recent years is going into supports for mothers and families on this aspect of childcare?
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Sinn Féin policy was to deliver childcare for €10 a day or €200 a month and then, lo and behold, just before the general election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael said this was going to be their new policy as well and they would deliver it if re-elected. It has not been delivered. What is the timeline for the Government to deliver childcare for €10 a day or €200 a month? Will it be in this year's budget? Will it be in next year's budget? The Minister said she would phase it in. I am not sure whether she said it would be done over the lifetime of this Government or over a period of time. I am looking for clarity on that because, at the end of the day, commitments were given and they must be honoured.
I thank the Deputies for their questions. On the last point, I have been very clear and the programme for Government is very clear: this will be delivered over the lifetime of this Government. It will be done in an incremental manner. One of the first key steps was taken just last week when we announced a fee cap would be put in place. We will build on that as we go forward.
Deputy Boland has engaged with me before about building blocks.
It is a scheme with existing criteria, which is absolutely delivering for some. I hear what the Deputy is saying on the flexibility going forward. There has to be a clawback as well for the State. If funding is being provided by State, there must be commitments given for the length of time that they will continue to work in the area of childcare. It is a fine line that we walk there.
On the points that have been raised on mothers working at home and in particular mothers, which is very pertinent to both the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and myself, in the area of disability, there are specific funds relating to disability such as domiciliary care allowances. Fundings of that nature are made available. The key point is that even in childcare services there is a choice for people to avail of the service and that all are included in the service, including children with disabilities, whom the Deputy referenced. It is open to all.
What about the broader point of childcare? Are there any additional supports for those mothers?
Specifically, that is a matter for the Department of Social Protection. I am speaking to our remit, which is childcare provision and care for disability.
82. Deputy Tony McCormack asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on her Department’s work on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. [32481/25]
Ireland ratified the UNCRPD in 2018. Since ratification, Ireland's approach has been to ensure cumulative advancements over time. The programme for Government commits to delivering a new national disability strategy that will provide an overarching framework for advancing the State’s obligations under the UNCRPD. In advance of the strategy, work continues unabated across government to advance implementation, with achievements including: increases in funding for disability services, including €3.2 billion in budget 2025 for HSE disability services; the ratification of the optional protocol to the UNCRPD; the publication of the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026; publication of the autism innovation strategy; the commencement in 2023 of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015, as amended, which establishes a modern legal framework to support decision-making by adults who may have difficulty making decisions without help; the introduction of key programmes like the work and access scheme to support disabled people in accessing employment; and the publication of the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022-2027.
The publication of the next national disability strategy will be the next milestone in Ireland's UNCRPD journey. That provides a whole-of-government framework for the advancement of rights. It will be ambitious. It will take action across a range of thematic pillars taken collectively that will capture the issues that most affect disabled people in their day-to-day lives, including education, employment, independent living, health and transport. It is codesigned with disabled people and their representative organisations. The strategy will provide a framework for sustaining and building on this progress and ensuring that disabled people are empowered to live full lives of their own choosing
I welcome the Department's leadership in advancing the national disability strategy. The shift towards to a whole-of-government approach embedding the UNCRPD into policy across Departments is critical to making rights real for people with disabilities. The move of disability policy from the Department of Health to the Minister of State's Department was a significant step towards a right-based model and the upcoming strategy is a real opportunity to build on that momentum. However, the key to this success will not just be policy alignment but real implementation and measurable outcomes. Many individuals and disability organisations are anxious to see concrete timelines. Thankfully, the Minister of State was able to provide me with those. The implementation of the UNCRPD is to be monitored by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Can the Minister of State assure me that this is going to happen?
I will answer the Deputy's last question first. Housing and disability are absolute priority for the Government. We all know knocking on the doors in the general election campaign the importance of disability right across the sector. Last week, I attended the United Nations disability conference in New York. The Irish delegation travelled with leading disability groups from Ireland who have directly fed into this national disability strategy. Once this strategy is published - and the timeline for that will be before the summer recess - this will be a living document. That is not the end of it. We will constantly be adapting and making sure that we are getting our policy right by listening to those with the lived experience. It is not just about publishing a strategy, as the Deputy said; it is about implementing it. There needs to be an action plan. A cross-government implementation team will be put in place. This will not just included myself and the Minister in the Department of disability. Every single Department and every Cabinet Minister will play their role, while making sure that we achieve that step change to ensure people with disabilities live independent lives.
I appreciate the update on the Department's engagement with the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The UNCRPD is not just about legal commitments; it is also about meaningful lived change for people with disabilities throughout the country. The first report in 2021 was an important step but real transparency and accountability come from continuous engagement with the committee and stakeholders here at home. Organisations like the IHREC and the disabled persons' organisations, DPOs, have a critical role in this. Can the Minister of State clarify whether the Department has received feedback on recommendations from the UN committee following the 2021 submission? When is the next periodic report due to be submitted? It would be helpful to know about what consultations will take place to ensure that people with disabilities are meaningfully involved in shaping that report.
There has been, and there will continue to be, robust consultation with all the key stakeholders, disability groups and DPOs. To give the Deputy an example of our track record on that, for this disability strategy we had extensive public consultation, which concluded last year. That included 34 focus groups and almost 500 responses to a national questionnaire. We had town hall events in Dublin, Cork, Galway and online feeding into this disability strategy. The consultation has continued on an alternative basis with key stakeholder groups, including DPOs and disability service providers, as well as across government. This engagement has supported the development of an ambitious strategy that will advance the implementation of the UNCRPD and ensure that disabled people are supported to live full lives of their own choosing. It is all about that lived experience. If we are going to get this right, it is about listening to them. I will come back to the Deputy on the timelines that he asked about.
83. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for plans and an indicative timeline of implementation for a community neuro-rehabilitation team for the treatment of neurological patients in north Dublin, as committed to in the programme for Government; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32453/25]
I recently met with the Neurological Alliance of Ireland who raised a number of questions with me. They were specifically interested in the programme for Government commitment, which seeks to put in place community neuro-rehabilitation teams. I was particularly concerned when they alerted me to the fact that north Dublin, the area that covers my constituency, does not currently have a community neuro-rehabilitation team. Will the Minister update the House on the matter?
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The overarching aim of the neuro-rehabilitation strategy is the development of neuro-rehabilitation services to improve patient outcomes by providing safe, high-quality, person-centred neuro-rehabilitation at the lowest appropriate level of complexity. It straddles acute hospitals and primary care as well as specialist community-based disability services.
The past few years have seen consistent funding being provided to advance the roll-out of the neuro-rehabilitation strategy. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality as well as the Department of Health, aim to continue this important work to ensure there is a fully integrated service available to those people who need it. As part of the strategy, the HSE is in the process of expanding the number of community neuro-rehabilitation teams across the country. The current position is that four new teams have been recruited and will be operational this year.
A further two partial teams are in place that predate the strategy. There is currently no community neuro-rehabilitation team, CNRT, operational in HSE Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary South, Waterford-Wexford, HSE Midlands or HSE Dublin and North East. Moving forward with the neuro-rehabilitation strategy, the aim is to enhance the existing CNRTs, fund those areas that do not have a CNRT and create a large population-based CNRT within each regional health area following the implementation of the new regional health areas under Sláintecare. Additional funding will be a matter for the annual budgetary process.
As outlined in the 2025 national service plan, the HSE is committed to developing community neuro-rehabilitation teams in line with the implementation framework and enhancing capacity for its implementation nationally. A care pathway has to be integrated to make sure people are getting these services as close to home as possible. That is the basis of the Deputy's question.
I agree with the Minister of State that these services are incredibly important. The multidisciplinary nature of the teams provides intensive neuro-rehabilitation at critical times and they assist with acute hospital discharges. Studies have shown that, on average, they save up to three days per patient, but they are also a critical intervention. Any multidisciplinary approach to patients can improve patient outcomes.
I was pleased to see the additional four areas, particularly in south and west Dublin, being allocated. This is a need across the country. While I am a TD for my constituency, I recognise that this is a new area of care and one the Government wants to implement and it is being done on a phased basis. I would not be happy if, in the coming 12 months, after this year, no provision had been made for Dublin north and east. It is crucial we put that in place. I ask the Minister of State to do all in her power as part of the budgetary process to attract funding for it.
This is a new structure being rolled out. It has taken the team a little time to set up the structures. The funding was in place and they are now rolling out those teams across the country. We will complete the national roll-out of the HSE community neuro-rehabilitation teams. We will develop more regional inpatient rehabilitation beds as well, implement community-based, multidisciplinary rehabilitation services in every regional health area, and increase the number of neurology nurse specialists and consultant neurologists. I look forward to working with the Deputy and keeping him up to date on the roll-out.
I encourage the Minister of State to engage with the Neurological Alliance of Ireland. It is a strong organisation. I know the Minister of State has met its representatives. Tomorrow she will visit my constituency and a member organisation of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, An Síol, which deals with longer term treatments. It is keen to get a permanent home. It has identified a site with Dublin City Council. In the HSE capital plan, money has been put in place to do the feasibility study for that. The director is a fantastic man. He is originally from Germany and he does not understand Irish bureaucracy. He wants it to happen now because of the patients. I look forward to engaging with the Minister of State on that issue too, which is part of the broader spectrum of support for people with acquired brain injuries, strokes, Parkinson's disease and so on.
Many of us have met the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, as the Minister of State has. When its representatives met me, it was with a constituent who I had met many times previously about the fact there has not been any community neuro-rehabilitation team in what we term the north east. We have not had it in CHO 8 and in what will be the regional health authority of Dublin north-east. We need to make sure we put this in. It is an absolute necessity. At the moment, people are ending up in accident and emergency departments. They are going in to get imperfect services and so forth. On the timeline for delivery, it needs to happen as soon as possible.
I want to put something on the record. It was brought to my attention that there seems to be an issue for the likes of St. John of God and its approved housing body, which was previously able to purchase houses under the capital assistance scheme. Will the Minister of State bring it up with the Minister? I have already mentioned it myself. It was a means of getting disability housing that seems not to be in play at the moment. There seems to be an issue with the Department of public expenditure.
Time, Deputy.
This was the likes of St. John of God operating alongside county councils such as in Meath and Louth and people could be severely impacted.
I thank both Deputies. I am looking forward to my visit to An Síol tomorrow morning and to seeing the Deputy there. I know they are doing fantastic work there on the ground. I am visiting these services throughout the country. When I am in these services, I meet people who have acquired brain injuries. I see the results of road traffic accidents and the importance of these facilities on the ground within communities. It is great to be in this position. I am honoured to be and to be able to fund such services that do fantastic work. I will take on board comments from Deputies.
