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

I am very happy to be here to address some of the issues raised in the Private Members' motion on carers. Support for carers is a topic that is always on the agenda and it is, of course, an enormously important one that comprises so many different cross-departmental issues. It covers not just health and social care supports but also income supports and housing, as the Deputies clearly identified.

My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke will later set out some of the policies, supports and initiatives provided to carers through other Departments and, therefore, I will take the opportunity in this contribution to focus some attention on my Department.

We are engaged in continuous efforts to expand and improve the provision of specialist disability services to people with disabilities and thereby also the supports given to their carers. Various surveys show that between 5.8% and 11% of the population identify as family carers. Three in five carers are female, and women make up the vast majority of those providing the most intensive levels of care.

Officials from my Department and from the Department of Health recently attended the annual carer’s forum, as they do every year. The event always provides a very useful and often emotional insight into the issues faced by carers who, as we should remember, are a diverse group. Some are caring for children with disabilities and others are caring for younger or older adults with a range of conditions.

We know that caring can be a rewarding, but also a very challenging, role particularly for higher-intensity caring. What all carers have in common is that they need assistance from time to time and in various ways to help them in the very important role that they fulfil. The access to respite is an issue that comes up every year at the carer’s forum and I am very aware that there is still a lot of unmet need in this area, which I am working hard to enable the HSE and its providers to meet.

Respite for those with, and caring for, people with specialist disability service needs has been a priority area for me since I took up this role as Minister of State for disability. Successive budgets have seen additional funding for respite and over the past couple of years in particular, a substantial number of new services have come onstream to provide not only much-needed additional respite beds but also a range of daytime activities. In 2014, funding for respite service provision totalled €53.5 million, while in 2024 it is in excess of €110 million. In terms of overnight respite, this has translated to provision increasing from 87,177 overnights accessed by people with a disability to 151,123 overnights last year, as well as 45,424 day only sessions. The total number of people in receipt of respite services in 2023 was 6,137. I fully intend to continue this expansion and I was able to attain additional new development funding of €15 million for specialist disability respite services through budget 2024, increasing to €25 million in a full year. This will ensure that provision continues to expand significantly across the country. With this increased funding my Department, in tandem with the HSE, is working with me to support different forms of respite - overnights, day provision, after-school clubs and weekend activities. Particular attention is being focused on areas that are below the national average regarding the availability of respite. There will be further detail provided in the respite investment plan, which I hope to publish in the coming weeks.

I acknowledge that demographic challenges associated with the increase in the number of people living with a disability, the increase in age and life expectancy, and the changing needs of people with a disability have all led to the need for increased respite services and we are working hard to step up provision on a continuous basis. The co-ordinated focus will be on expanding existing overnight capacity as well as providing significant additional investment in alternative forms of respite to meet the different needs. Every effort is being made to incrementally move to support the provision of respite on a more equitable basis and to expand provision in all forms of respite. Respite will continue to be a priority for me and this Government.

Respite is one important area of support for people with disabilities and their carers but there are many more, including personal assistance and home support services as well as timely access to therapies and assessment. An unprecedented €2.9 billion is being provided in 2024 for specialist disability services. The recently published disability action plan sets out our ambition for reform and expansion of disability services, and together with the roadmap for children’s services it provides the blueprint for service improvement over the next few years.

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion on carers and providing an important forum for debate on these issues. I look forward to further contributions.

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