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

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to bring the House up to date. The report, The Cost of Disability in Ireland, was commissioned by the Minister for Social Protection and prepared by Indecon International Research Economists. It was published in December 2021 and provides importance evidence as to the additional costs that people with disability face in their day-to-day lives.

The programme for Government contains a commitment to use research into the cost of disability to properly inform the direction of future policy. As the evidence of The Cost of Disability in Ireland report has implications for many areas of public policy, a whole-of-government approach is required to develop appropriate and timely responses and to ensure that everyday costs are reduced for people with disabilities and their families.

For this reason, the co-ordination of the whole-of-government response is being carried out under the national disability inclusion strategy, NDIS. The NDIS is one of two national policy frameworks through which the rights of people with disabilities in Ireland are progressively realised. In addition to advancing key actions under the NDIS, my Department supports the implementation and monitoring of the NDIS by co-ordinating the national disability inclusion strategy steering group, NDISSG. I chair this group and its meetings are attended by representatives of Departments, agencies and the disability stakeholder group, the DSG 6.

The Cost of Disability in Ireland report was considered by the NDISSG in December 2021, within 24 hours of publication. I was very fortunate in that the Ministers, Deputies O'Gorman and Humphreys, and I actually attended the presentation from all stakeholders. The group will examine meaningful action to reduce day-to-day costs for people with disabilities in Ireland. Aligning the findings and recommendations of The Cost of Disability in Ireland report to the NDIS will ensure that recommendations can be properly considered at whole-of-government level and that progress against actions taken will be monitored. We meet every three months. There is going to be a traffic light system implemented and we will see the progress every quarter.

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