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

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to speak on budgetary matters. My budget is not finalised at this moment in time. I am still in negotiation with the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, for my fair share for disability. The Deputy is correct; intervention has to be the priority. There is no point in clearing an assessment of needs waiting list if I cannot deliver on intervention. I need more money for therapists. I need to build on the 100 therapists I got last year and the 85 earlier this year. I need to build on that.

At the same time, we are coming out of Covid and we are still not out of it. Respite was closed for most of that period, especially for young people. We need to build on existing capacity. Last year, I secured nine houses in the budget. Eight of them are built and are going into operation, while the ninth is happening in December. I need to double that because I saw how successful it was. It released a valve and gave breathing space to families. This time, my ambition is to have nine houses for children and nine for adults. That is building capacity into the system without, at the same time, forcing people into full-time residential care.

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