Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank members for the invitation to appear before them once again. The work of the committee is an important vehicle for making sure that the whole of Government looks at disability issues as a priority. I am thankful for the work it has done, not least the work that was carried out in producing the report on aligning funding to the UNCRPD which we spoke to in the Dáil last week.

To help ensure that our health-funded disability services are progressing to meet our obligations under the convention, this Government has acted to bring the different branches of disability together. Early next year the disability policy functions currently in the Department of Health will transfer to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This means I will have all strands of disability policy under my remit in one Department. This will facilitate easier collaboration and innovation in the delivery of services to persons with a disability.

More than 90% of people with disabilities are supported through mainstream health and social care services. However, the 60,000 people who require specialist disability services will continue to be my responsibility in the new Department. Transforming Lives currently is the major policy programme for services for people with disabilities. This is a national collaborative effort to build better services. My objective is to build a more responsive service model for people with a disability where greater flexibility, choice and control from the service user's perspective is central, progressively improving in line with the social model of disability and the UNCRPD. Under Transforming Lives the focus is on developing individualised person-centred supports to enable people with disabilities participate to their full potential in economic and social life in the community and be enabled to live ordinary lives in ordinary places.

My opening speech is limited to five minutes and members have asked specifically about services, so let me give them a whistle-stop tour of where we are with the health-funded disability services. I can provide additional details later if members wish. Members will be aware that we recently published the disability capacity review which outlines capacity needs to 2032. This report quantifies and costs future need for health-funded disability support services. It is important to note the report quantifies this from a 2018 baseline and not a 2021 baseline, that is, the funding requirements as set out in the report are relative to 2018 expenditure, and not to 2021 expenditure. An interdepartmental working group is now preparing the action plan for consideration of the Cabinet social policy subcommittee as soon as possible. I understand our obligations under Article 4 of the UNCRPD and the development of the action plan that is currently under way was enhanced by a wide ranging consultative process undertaken by my officials in September this year. I fully support the term "nothing about us, without us".

Budget 2021 provided more than €100 million new development funds for health-funded disability services, and in budget 2022 a further €115 million was allocated to these services. This unprecedented level of funding serves to demonstrate Government’s commitment to persons with a disability. The main policy areas being developed with this record funding are: progressing children’s disability services, which will see 91 children’s disability network teams in place by the year’s end. This represents the most significant reorganisation of health and social care services ever undertaken in the State. Under New Directions, day services assist and support adults with disabilities to engage in and be part of their community. New Directions states that service locations should be decided with a view to enabling people with disabilities to be an integral part of the community rather than segregated or removed from the community. New developments take the form of hubs from which people with disabilities are supported to access local services and take part in local activities. The school leaver programme has seen 1,700 people profiled for offers of day service places this year, and preparations are under way for the 2022 class.

I am committed to allowing people to live at home with their families and loved ones as much as possible. To support this eight respite centres have opened this year, with another one to open in early 2022. This will add an additional 10,400 respite nights in a full year. The HSE also provided 214 intensive respite support packages to children and young adults as well as alternative respite in the form of innovative in-home supports, sports or summer camps, holidays, or hotel breaks. For 2022, the breakdown of service provision will be finalised as part of the national service planning process. However, respite is a priority as the pressure it eases for families cannot be underestimated.

An additional 40,000 personal assistant hours are provided in 2021. The HSE will deliver more than 3 million home support hours to 2,550 people for delivery of more than 1.7 million personal assistant hours to 2,590 people this year. I have also ensured that the single biggest increase in funding will be made available for personal assistant hours in 2022, after allocating €3 million extra for personal assistant hours next year.

This year 144 people were supported to move from congregated settings to smaller homes within local communities. A similar number of people will be supported to move in 2022. An additional 102 new residential places were provided in 2021 based on priority need, including 58 emergency places.

I am aware that colleagues are interested in the movement of under 65s away from nursing homes, as I am too. Some €3 million was allocated to the HSE-led pilot project in 2021 to assist 18 people inappropriately placed in nursing homes to move to more appropriate housing options in the community. Budget 2022 provides an additional allocation of €5.5 million to address the situation of such young persons. The HSE is progressing work in this regard, including a survey and mapping of the records and wishes of existing under 65s in nursing homes. It is envisaged that the mapping exercise will be completed by mid-2022.

I will pause here and hand over to the HSE but before I do, I would like to say that I am delighted to see my colleague and the Chairman of the committee, Deputy Michael Moynihan, join us this morning on the call. I thank the Chairman for all the work he and the committee have done since it was set up. It has been a huge asset and a benefit in creating not just awareness but in feeding into how policy is decided and delivered on.