Independent TD Carol Nolan has called on the Government to address recruitment and retention issues in HSE children's disability services.
Citing figures she received from the HSE, Ms Nolan said that almost half of all children's disability staff positions are unfilled in Laois, Offaly, Longford, Westmeath, Louth and Meath.
Ms Nolan said that in the area of children's speech and language therapy, there are 162 vacant full-time positions out of a total of 447.
She commended the work of a "skeleton staff doing their best" to keep the service operating.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin told Ms Nolan that issues around access to therapies for children with disabilities are "not at all acceptable".
He said that there was particular difficulty in terms of recruitment in the area of children's therapies.
Mr Martin told the Dáil that the Minister of State in the Department of Children, Anne Rabbitte, was doing extensive work to improve the situation.
He agreed with Carol Nolan that there was a "human resource management issue".
The Tánaiste expressed hope that the new CEO of the HSE Bernard Gloster, who was previously the CEO of Túsla, would have a "particular focus on children".
