Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2026
63. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the action being taken to address waiting times for disability services; if additional staff are being recruited in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47398/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraGovernment is committed to ensuring that children and their families who need early intervention and therapy input can access that support in a timely way, and has provided funding for additional posts to enhance the capacity of CDNTs and shorten the waiting times in recent years, with further investment in both Budgets 2025 and 2026 to fund additional therapy posts and clinical trainee places. In 2025 €2.85m in funding was provided, focusing on various positions across CDNTs, whilst a further €8 million was secured in Budget 2026 to allow for the funding of 150 posts to CDNTs.
Progress is being made on the recruitment of staff to Children’s Disability Network Teams, 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).
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 CDNTs 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. The Strategy will be developed as a distinct and visible strand within the new HSE Resourcing Strategy 2026-2029, detailing specific actions for Disability services while remaining fully aligned with national workforce reform
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.
Whilst recognising that there is more to do, and despite sustained pressures, the HSE has made real progress in reducing waiting lists, with a reduction of 28% in 2025. In the National Service Plan for 2026, the HSE has committed to a further 25% reduction.
HSE preliminary data indicates that the national CDNT waiting list has reduced by 50% from 16,522 children awaiting an initial contact with a Children’s Disability Network Team in 2023 to 8,200 children at the end of March 2026.
HSE preliminary data for March 2026 also indicates that Children’s Disability Network Teams are providing services and supports nationally for 45,472 children and strategies and supports for waitlisted children with urgent needs, where staffing resources allow.
The HSE have also commissioned a review by the National Disability Authority of CDNT operations in 2025. This report included a focus on the staffing of CDNTs and HSE will use this review as well as the HSE staff surveys to identify areas of improvement.
