FUSS Ireland - a disability advocacy group - say staffing levels in disability services for children in Cork are worse than ever.
Families Unite for Services and Support are calling on the Government to engage with staff and families so children with additional needs can access the support they need.
There's an average staff vacancy rate of 25% across Cork according to figures by the Disability Network team with that figure almost doubled in South East Cork City where the vacancy rate stands at 46%
Psychologists and physiotherapists are just some of the un-filled posts needed to make accessing the disability services easier and FUSS Ireland say that some children who are due to start school still haven't had any disability service appointments.
Rebecca O'Riordan is a parent of a child with a disability and a Cork advocate for FUSS Ireland.
Speaking to RedFM News, Rebecca says trying to get an appointment for any disability service is next to impossible:
"It's the loaves and fishes. There's nobody left. There's barely anyone to answer the phones and most of Children's Disability Network in Cork at this point because the amount of families that contact us and say, Is there even anyone in the building? Is there anyone answering the phone? Is there anyone answering emails because I've been emailing all summer. I've been calling all summer. And it seems that the place has shut up shop that there's nobody there. But the reality is there's some there's so few staff there. That they simply just cannot get back to people."
