It is very frustrating for newly qualified speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists who have taken unpaid placements and attended interviews in Athlone at their own expense to still be in limbo, having been offered jobs during the summer but not having had a chance to take them up. A three-card trick has been played by the Government in announcing the embargo has been lifted. It is doubly frustrating for those therapists and for families to see staffing levels in Kerry of 37% for occupational therapists, where staff can barely maintain the service and cannot tackle the waiting list, and 50% for physiotherapists, while in Killarney the acute list has gone from six to 28 weeks, delaying recovery further and keeping beds full. When will the money announced by the Government be apportioned? Will priority be given to areas such as Kerry where the staffing levels are so low?

It is important to begin by saying disabilities never had an embargo on recruiting OTs, physios, speech and language or for any form of therapy. Funding going from the Department to the HSE will be centrally allocated to each of the RHOs, which have sole responsibility for apportioning it according to the needs within their structure. If interviews have been done, I have no doubt the allocation of those jobs is under way as we speak.

My question is similar. I want to speak about the CDNT in Carlow. Carlow has a population of more than 60,000 but in the CDNT there is one nurse manager, one dietitian, two physiotherapists, two social workers, one nurse, 1.7 SLTs and no occupational therapists. In excess of 100 children in Carlow are awaiting speech and language therapy and 170 waiting for OT. The Minister of State knows early intervention is key. There are also 282 adults who have been waiting for physio over the past year and a half. The HSE tells me it is because of recruitment challenges but that is not acceptable. I have families ringing me every day. It is coming up on the doors every day in Carlow, and then there is the embargo in the HSE. We really are hitting a crisis. What can the Minister of State do for the CDNT in Carlow?

I thank the Deputy for raising a similar issue to the previous contributor. It is important to reiterate there was never an embargo on recruitment in disabilities. In CDNT teams, we have 700 vacant posts which are fully funded and there is a continuous recruitment campaign under way. Regarding adult multidisciplinary teams, we have in the budget, for the first time ever, a pathway to ensuring therapists can be recruited onto such teams. It is a priority.