46. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of times he has met with the Minister for Health in person regarding pay and conditions for CDNT staff. [38909/24]

As Ministers with responsibility for respective functions within the HSE, I have ongoing interactions with Minister Donnelly on such matters, as do our officials. The topic of Children’s Disability Network Teams was discussed extensively with other issues as part of the transfer of function of Specialist Disability Services from the Department of Health to my Department by myself, Minister Donnelly and Minister of State Rabbitte. I have not had a specific meeting with Minister Donnelly where the topic was the pay conditions for CDNT staff.

Organisations funded under section 39 of the Health Act are the lead agency in a number of CDNTs. The Deputy may wish to note that my officials have engaged extensively with counterparts in the Department of Health in the context of talks facilitated by the Workplace Relations Commission on pay for organisations funded under section 39 of the Health Act. The agreement reached last year has provided an 8% increase of funding specifically for pay increases for staff in these voluntary organisations. This is a significant investment in the sector and the Government is committed to further engagement with unions and employers to ensure sectoral challenges in the recruitment and retention of staff can be further addressed.

While Government recognises the essential role provided by the staff in section 39 funded organisations, it is important to recognise that these service providers are not public bodies and terms and conditions of employment are ultimately a matter between the employer and the employee.