Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 September 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters

Aligning Disability Funding with the UNCRPD: Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

5:30 pm

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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That point is part of the DFI's submission. It is looking to have disability inclusion officers. The local authorities have done that very well with Age Action.

Is it not a little bit of a miss that we will have a disability officer, an inclusion officer and an age-action officer? Should we not have an inclusion team that do this? Life consists of different stages for people. Inclusion is for all stages, depending on one's background and whether one is from an ethnic minority, or whatever. We are all going to age. Once we turn 50, we will all acquire a disability. Perhaps all the Departments need to discuss this. It is a great opportunity to roll it out through the Department of housing which has the housing adaptations and everything else like that. Maybe there is a need for a collective effort. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, puts €5.2 million into the Department of housing for Age Action. I am looking to get into that space, but at the same time, I think it needs to be more joined up for that purpose.