Ms Anna Shakespeare:

The federation met Laura Magahy. She had 104 actions on the Sláintecare implementation plan, none of which related to disability. She was very cognisant of that and recognised the fact that throughout 2019, she needed to capture data so that it would be built into the 2020 Estimates. That was her commitment to us when we met with her.

Going back to the Deputy's earlier points around costing, we have a national database that profiles, for the most part, individuals with intellectual disabilities.

However, it has less capacity to profile individuals with autism and physical and sensory disabilities. Certainly, on a preliminary review, in the period from 2010 to 2018, inclusive, the country saw a 35% increase in the number of men and women with intellectual disabilities and a 240% increase in the number of people over the age of 65 years. For the ordinary population that requires increases in health, dementia and social care supports. We have not done anything similar for disability social care services. I understand this is something at which the HSE is looking and to which the voluntary providers are committed to contributing. There is no equivalent for what the acute care sector calls the exotic or unscheduled care budget for disability social care services. When these changed needs present in a person's daily functioning, we have no budgetary capacity to meet them other than by overspending for the sake of safety. These are really important things the committee ought to be aware of.