Children with disabilities left waiting for vital supports in Kilkenny

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Children, Kathleen Funchion, has criticised the Government following the release of figures which reveal 9,529 children are waiting over 12 months for an initial contact with their local Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT).

In Carlow-Kilkenny, that figure stands at 1,496 children.

The local TD was speaking following Child Poverty Week, an initiative to highlight and refocus policy makers attention on child poverty and deprivation.

"We are condemning children with complex needs to a lifetime of disadvantage, educational inequality, and adversity with the outrageous lack of access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and physiotherapists across all CDNTs," she said.

"The demand for access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and physiotherapists is high, but the response from government is nearly non-existent." 

"Anecdotally, I am hearing of an exodus in skilled professionals from the HSE towards private practice, this is evident in the woefully understaffed CDNT’s across the 9 CHOs. Inclusion Ireland have put WTE vacancies at 707, and whilst there has been an expansion of approved posts, the people aren’t there to fill them."

"This must change, it’s just not acceptable any longer for these posts to remain vacant while parents and guardians scramble to find an assessment of need or therapeutic supports for their children," Deputy Funchion concluded.