Mr. Bernard O'Regan:

I thank the Senator. I will answer some of the questions and then Mr. Higgins will come in on some of the others. Regarding decongregation, Ms Ennis is going to come back to the Senator on that.

Regarding the number of people under the age of 65 in nursing homes, the last figure we had was 1,237. That figure will be updated shortly and I can give the Senator that number once we have it. Over the past 18 months, the number has remained relatively steady. Even as people have moved out, other people have moved in, and it stayed around the 1,225 mark.

It is important to say, and it goes to some of the earlier conversation, we have been doing some work in engaging with some of the residents - not all of them yet but we will get there - and asking them about their will and preference and what they want to do. One of the things that is quite striking is that while there are significant numbers of that cohort of people who say they are not happy where they are and they want something different or are very clear about what they want, there are also a very significant number of people saying they do not want to move and are happy where they are. While you have to respect what somebody is saying to you, at the same time, one of the things we have been reflecting on is whether we have been good enough in making sure people understand what alternatives might look like or what support might look like. Are they saying they are happy where they are because they have no confidence we will be able to deliver an alternative and they do not want to have a bit of hope because they do not know what the system can deliver? We have a lot to pay attention to.

The Senator asked about the alignment of housing and support. When a person needs support and the paperwork and applications are being completed with regard to, let us say, CAS funding, there is a requirement that the HSE would also give a commitment to the support somebody would need. There is some history of housing being developed and made available to somebody and the supports not being there so they could not move into it anyway and, on the flip side, support being available and no housing. The intention behind that requirement is to make sure there is some alignment. That matches up well sometimes and sometimes it does not with regard to timing.

One of the things that we are trying to do in the context of the disability action plan, even though we do not know with certainty what additional funding there might be in 2025 or 2026, is look a bit more confidently at being able to do a bit of risk-taking and say, "Yes, let us make some commitments within a reasonable set of parameters of what funding we might be able to anticipate so that people are not waiting unnecessarily."

On data and where it is collected, one of the key tools for the HSE will be the NASS. I cannot remember what the acronym stands for, but it is the new national database administered by the Health Research Board on which the needs of all disabled people are to be captured and recorded. There used to be two databases - one for people with intellectual disabilities and a separate one for those with physical sensory issues. People with autism were either in or out. It was all vague. This is bringing those two databases together. That is developed but it is still in the process of being fully populated and there is ongoing work on that. That will be the critical tool for the State in terms of being able to identify. As the Senator said, once a child is identified as having a disability, we should be able to future plan. It would be really important that we are using tools like that as effectively as possible.

I will ask Ms Ennis to respond to the Senator's query around decongregation.