Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2026
490. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide an update on the measures being taken by her Department to increase staffing levels in CDNTs and to reduce waiting times for access to services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17868/26]
View answerFigures from the HSE indicate that the national CDNT waiting list has reduced from 16,522 children awaiting an initial contact with a Children’s Disability Network Team in 2023 to 9,248 children at the end of January 2026. Children’s Disability Network Teams provided services nationally to 44,695 children as of January 2026.
Progress is also being made on the recruitment of staff to CDNTs with the HSE reporting a 28% increase in staffing levels nationwide from October 2023 to October 2025. This equates to an additional 448 Whole-Time Equivalents (WTE), including an additional 321 Health and Social Care Professionals (HSCPs).
The overall Children’s Disability Network Team vacancy rate has reduced from 29% in 2023, to 18% in 2025 – a reduction of 11 percentage points nationally.
To continue this growth, the HSE is driving intensive domestic and international recruitment efforts and will undertake a variety of workforce initiatives to support sustained growth of Children’s Disability Network Teams and the wider disability service.
A dedicated Disability Workforce Strategy will be developed by the HSE in 2026, to meet growing service demands and address recruitment and retention challenges across specialist disability services, including Children’s Disability Network Teams.
In addition, placements on CDNTs will continue to be expanded, alongside a continued expansion in the number of places in higher education, to develop the pipeline of future therapists.
The Programme for Government commits to doubling the number of college places for speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, psychologists and social workers. This expansion will provide up to 461 additional student places by 2028, with the majority commenced in 2025.
In 2026, the HSE will develop targeted retention actions and innovative recruitment campaigns to address persistent vacancies and optimise recruitment across all service providers, ensuring the workforce reaches its funded level.
Funding was also made available in 2025 for Children’s Services to build on existing recruitment initiatives, with €2.85m in funding focusing on various positions across CDNTs. A further €8 million has been secured in Budget 2026 to allow for the funding of 150 posts to CDNTs.
