Minister acknowledges issues with recruiting staff to assist children with disabilities in Meath

Serious problems with recruiting staff to assist children with disabilities has been highlighted by the Minister for Disabilities Anne Rabbitte in a reply to a query from Meath county councillors.

Sinn Fein Cllr Michael Gallagher asked the council to call on the Minister to provide “adequate personnel” for the early assessment if children with disabilities and to assist children with disabilities in schools.

The Minister told the council that the HSE Children’s Disability Network teams were experiencing significant recruitment challenges across many clinical disciplines which was having an impact on service delivery.

“The head of service for disability service is working with the HR department on a plan as to how these posts may be filled. The HSE has assured that recruitment is a high priority and multiple competitions have and continue to take place in efforts to fill all vacancies”, she said.