Cavan children facing 'long and inappropriate delays' accessing therapies

Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith says the delays families are experiencing trying to access therapies for children with additional needs in Cavan and Monaghan is “unacceptable”.

He also pointed to the importance of early intervention in supporting those children.

“There is a problem with recruitment and retention and I know that there is a massive vacancy rate for therapists in the children's disability network team in Cavan,” he continued. “There is a similar difficulty in Enable Ireland.

“We need more therapists and more timely interventions for such children. Nowadays, unfortunately, too many families are having to source treatment from private sources, which is impacting on their household income. That is driving more people to go into private practice, so we are losing those therapists from the public service.”