Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 2 July 2025
Committee on Disability Matters
Progressing the Delivery of Disability Policy and Services: Discussion (Resumed)
2:00 am
Micheál Carrigy (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
I would like to see a commitment to implementing the strategy. The timeline for the national disability strategy legislation the Minister of State is talking about could stretch beyond February but the autism innovation strategy and its recommendations for various Departments will fall at the end of February, so we need to have legislation in place prior to that.
Several members of the autism committee and I went to Scotland and met the Scottish minister for health and officials from Scottish Autism. We came back and met the former Minister of State, Senator Rabbitte, in relation to one-stop shops. One-stop shops are in the programme for Government. Funding was allocated by the HSE for two one-stop shops, one in Dublin and one in Galway. We want to see these regionalised. I want to be sure the funding is in place for these for this year. Will there be a commitment in budget 2026 to providing funding to roll out the one-stop shops across the country, as recommended in the programme for Government? Doing so would reflect best practice, which we brought back from Scotland. It is tried and tested, working and making a massive difference for families on the ground. That is what we need here.
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