Thar ceann an Aire Leanaí, Míchumais agus Comhionannais, an Teachta Foley, is mian liom mo buíochas a ghabhail leis an Teachta as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú agus as deis a thabhairt don Aire – is mé atá ag labhairt ar a son – freagra a thabhairt. This Government acknowledges that demand for respite services across the country remains high and is working together with the HSE and service providers to increase provision. Increasing the provision of respite services is a key priority area for this Government and for people with disabilities and their families, as the Deputy has outlined. The HSE advises that a range of respite models for children and adults is provided in Kerry. These include residential respite centres, after school-clubs, in-home support, outreach supports and holiday breaks. These options ensure that respite is provided in the manner which best meets the needs of people with disabilities, their families and carers. It is acknowledged that while there has been significant additional investment in respite, there remains an unmet need. The Deputy will be aware that St. Mary of the Angels campus, operated by St. John of God Services and funded by the HSE, is currently home to just over 50 people. Day services are also provided there. Furthermore, St. Francis Special School, funded by the Department of Education, is located on the campus grounds of St. Mary of the Angels. The Deputy is no doubt aware that in May 2005, services and ownership of St. Mary of the Angels was transferred from the Franciscan Sisters to the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God. Currently St. Mary of the Angels is operated by St. John of God Services Limited. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the HSE and St. John of God Services are working on expanding a working group to explore the future use of the St. Mary of the Angels site. The Department The Department, along with the HSE, will continue to work with service providers and families to develop additional respite services.

Sentiment score: 0.21

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú inniu. We hear the passion Deputy Cahill brings to this issue. The future use of the site is currently under consideration by a working group. The Minister, Deputy Foley, wants to assure Deputy Cahill that this Government is committed to providing services and supports for people with disabilities, which will empower them to live their lives, provide greater independence in accessing their services and enhance their ability to tailor the supports required to meet their needs and plan their lives. The Department and the HSE are aware of the demand for respite services in Kerry. The Deputy has outlined that with great passion and vigour, in terms of what the constituents are saying in Kerry, and they are right. As outlined in the programme for Government, in response to this the Government is committed to increasing funding and the provision of respite services. Significant investment has been allocated to respite in recent years. It has gone from €6.4 million in 2019 to €12.4 million in 2024, which is an almost 100% increase in a six year period. The HSE advises that further regional respite services are being developed throughout Kerry to meet the needs of people closer to home, in locations that best meet the needs and minimise travel to services. The HSE will continue to work with service providers and families to develop the needs that Deputy Cahill rightly outlines in Kerry.

Sentiment score: 0.31

The Government is committed to the provision of additional special school places for children with more complex educational needs. Over 300 new special school places are being provided for the coming 2025-26 school year. Five new special schools are being established in addition to the 11 new special schools that opened over the past few years. Of these 16 new schools, six have been established in Dublin, bringing the number of NCSE-supported special schools in the county to 42. Special school capacity is also being expanded across a number of existing special schools. This means capacity across Dublin city and county will increase to over 2,700 special school places. Of the 399 special classes sanctioned for September 2025, 98 are in County Dublin and these will be added to the existing 602 special classes currently in operation in the county. There continues to be an increasing need to provide additional special school places to support children with complex needs. The new special schools established in recent years have focused on providing additional places in our largest urban areas, namely, Dublin and Cork. The Department of Education and Youth and NCSE have already begun planning with regard to further expanding special school capacity for the 2026-27 school year. It is estimated that a further 300 new special school places may be required each year in the coming years. When looking to provide additional capacity, the Department’s preferred option is to increase provision in existing special schools, if possible. Where this is not possible in a region, the Department and NCSE will consider the need to establish a new special school. In planning for increased special school places, the Department and NCSE review all the available data on the growing need for special school places across the country. This involves a detailed analysis of enrolment trends and the potential for existing special schools in a region to expand. The NCSE continues to monitor demand for special school places at a local and national level and is committed to ensuring that adequate provision remains nationwide.

Sentiment score: 0.58

The Deputy took what I said as bad news. I think I gave constructive news, if she heard what I said, which is that there are 300 new special school places, which it is acknowledged are needed for those who need them, and that the Department and the NCSE in particular have proceeded to decide where they are going. I have no doubt the Department will listen to what the Deputy said in the Dáil tonight. It will look at this, as I am sure the Deputy will understand, taking a holistic and analytical approach to see where places are needed. That is going to happen. I am glad that under the previous Government we restarted the reopening of special schools. That continues apace. We know the demand that is there at the moment. The NCSE will look at where those schools should be located. I have no doubt it will look at areas where there are no special schools if existing schools in the region cannot accommodate. To be clear, the Department and the NCSE are committed to ensuring that sufficient special education placements are available for children with special educational needs. They will continue to review and monitor the situation in County Dublin, which includes Dublin 1, and nationwide as to where new special schools are required.

Sentiment score: 0.08

On behalf of the Minister for Health, I thank Deputy Hearne for raising this issue. It gives the Minister the opportunity to update the Dáil on this important issue. What the Deputy has set out is not acceptable. Primary care services, including primary care psychology, play a central role in providing care and treatment to both children and adults in the community. Per the implementation of the national policy on access for children and young people with a disability or developmental delay, children and young people with complex disabilities are seen within the children’s disability network teams, whereas those with less complex needs are seen within the primary care services. The HSE has advised that increases in the numbers of referrals and an increase in the complexity of presentations requiring more intensive interventions have resulted in increased pressure on primary care services, including primary care psychology. As the Deputy outlined, primary care services are facing staff shortages and ongoing recruitment challenges for health and social care professionals working in general and specialist services in the community. These factors have all contributed to an increase in waiting lists for services across the country, including Dublin North-West. This Government recognises, however, the central role that primary care therapy services play in offering the opportunity for early and cost-effective interventions for children and young people. In budget 2025, the Government continued its investment in initiatives aimed at addressing long waiting times for children and young people, including in child psychology. This year, funding of €4.75 million to continue this initiative will target the removal from the waiting list of 2,933 people under the age of 18 who have been waiting longer than 52 weeks to access the service, with almost 900 people already removed at the end of the first quarter of this year. The Minister for Health fully acknowledges there is an urgent need to reduce waiting times and waiting lists for primary care services and to improve consistency of patient experience regardless of location. In line with the programme for Government commitment to build capacity in primary care therapy services, a programmatic approach to address primary care waiting lists has been developed jointly by the Department of Health and the HSE. The aim of this programmatic approach is to put in place considerable standardised infrastructure to support systematic responses to primary care waiting lists and to facilitate a greater understanding of the scale of demand, which we all know about and the Deputy has outlined, as well as the drivers of demand and to allow for more timely access, improved planning, interventions, investment considerations, enhanced productivity and the most efficient use of capacity. This approach involves three main workstreams which aim to improve access to primary care therapy services by analysing activity and maximizing capacity, developing national measures to reduce long waiting times, and creating a consistent management protocol for referrals and waiting lists to these services.

Sentiment score: 0.53

We fully recognise the frustration of people in the Deputy's constituency with long waiting times for certain services. Much more needs to be done, particularly to fill vacancies, as he has said, to address waiting lists and to ensure consistent, equitable and timely access. As I said, we have a child psychology waiting list initiative alongside a joint Department and HSE programmatic approach. We are committed to building capacity within primary care, particularly by recruiting additional staff numbers, promoting advanced practice roles in the community for health and social care professions and increasing - this is critical and goes to the Deputy's point - the number of college training places for health and social care professions. Each of the six health regions and each national service has been provided with a specified number of whole-time equivalents and can replace, recruit and prioritise staff within that number. This gives them more power and control to focus resources where they are needed and informs decision-making at a local level regarding prioritisation and filling of waiting lists. There are challenges, particularly with local vacancies, which the Deputy has outlined and these are impacting on waiting times. Each of the health regions now has its own budget. The leadership team with responsibility for local decision-making continues to work towards the Sláintecare objectives. The Government remains committed to the development of the primary and community healthcare services as outlined in the programme for Government and we will certainly take those points the Deputy has raised here in the Dáil back to the Minister.

Sentiment score: 0.18

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil thar ceann an Aire leanaí, an Teachta Norma Foley, leis an Teachta McGuinness as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú ar maidin inniu. Is sprioc tábhachtach don Rialtas é rochtain a chur ar fáil do luathoideachas agus cúram leanaí. Tá maoiniú caipitil curtha ar fáil ag an Roinn faoin bplean forbartha náisiúnta chun spásanna nua lánaimseartha a chruthú sna háiteanna ina bhfuil an t-éileamh is airde i gcomparáid leis an soláthar. Tá €25 milliún ar fáil anois chun níos mó spás a chur ar fáil faoin scéim deontais, building blocks extension, ag tacú le tograí tógála de chuid na seirbhísí atá ansin cheana féin. The priority of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality has been the delivery of additional capacity for the types of provision for which there is the greatest need. The scheme is therefore focused on supporting the creation of additional full-time places for children aged from one year to three years through extensions to existing buildings or, in the case of not-for-profit community services, construction or purchase of buildings. Osclaíodh an scéim seo do sheirbhísí a bhí ag cur áiteanna lánaimseartha cheana féin nó a bhí sásta áiteanna nua-aimseartha a chur ar fáil agus a chruthú. I am advised by the Minister that 50 early learning and childcare providers have been shortlisted for funding under this scheme and that these services are working closely with the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to deliver more than 1,500 new quality and affordable places throughout the country. In the case to which the Deputy refers, níor chuir an tseirbhís sin iarratas isteach faoin scéim seo, but I am advised that the Waterford County Childcare Committee has been working with the service to provide them with support and identify opportunities to meet their particular circumstances. The Minister is considering the approach to capital investment in future years within the context of the programme for Government commitments and the revision of the plean forbartha náisiúnta agus tá sé sin ag dul ar aghaidh faoi láthair. The focus will be on the types of provision and the areas where there are the greatest capacity deficits.

Sentiment score: 0.18

I dtosach báire, aontaím leis an Teachta go bhfuil tábhacht faoi leith ag baint leis an nGaeilge agus leis na naíonraí trí mheán na Gaeilge. D’fhreastail mé ar naíonra in 1980 agus tá mé fós anseo ag labhairt Gaeilge. Tá suirbhé foilsithe ag an Roinn, the annual early years sector profile. I gcomhthéacs Chontae Phort Láirge, taispeánann an suirbhé go bhfuil líon na bpáistí ar an rolla tar éis méadú agus go bhfuil laghdú tagtha ar líon na ndaoine ar na liostaí feithimh. Beidh 1,500 áit nua an bhliain seo chugainn faoin building blocks extension scheme, lena n-airítear seirbhísí i gContae Phort Láirge. The programme for Government outlines a wider ambition to deliver an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system with State-led facilities adding capacity. This will include additional resources for forward planning, the development of a capital programme of investment for State-owned early learning and childcare facilities, co-ordination with the school building programme, supports for services within schools and developing planning guidelines to ensure that early learning and childcare buildings are provided at the point of use. The Government is committed to delivering on this vision over the term of office.

Sentiment score: 0.18