Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

Disability is a top priority. At our first Cabinet meeting in Áras an Uachtaráin, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste said to all the Cabinet Ministers around the table that they have disability in their brief and if they do not know what it is they should go away and find out. That is the priority the Government has given to this issue. I sit on the Cabinet committee. The Minister for Finance is also on it, as is the Minister for public expenditure. This is not going to work with just one Minister. We need the financing behind this. We have increased the budgets. I am not for one minute saying this is perfect. What I am sincerely telling Senator Clonan is that there is a concerted effort across the Government. It will not be easy, because sometimes if it was just about funding it would be easy, but it is about the structures and about Departments from the top down and bottom up working together to ensure that children and adults with disabilities have access to the services they need so that they can live independently. This is not going to happen in the next six to 12 months, but the national disability strategy is a plan out to 2030. I have no doubt it will be challenging, but the Senator has my absolute commitment that it will be funded. It will not be all the funding we need straight away but it will be increased to make sure we roll out the strategy.