Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Ceann Chomhairle as ucht an ama agus an deis seo a thabhairt dom. I am very pleased this afternoon to have the opportunity to speak on the programme for Government. I was also pleased to have been a part of the negotiating team for this programme for Government. In particular, I am very pleased to have an opportunity to outline the key priorities that will shape the work of the Department of children, disability and equality over the next number of years. The programme for Government is committed to prioritising improvements in disability services throughout the country. In the first instance, the programme commits to the formation of a new disability unit in the Department of an Taoiseach, which will form the basis of a whole-of-Government step-change in the approach to service improvement and delivery.

The Department and I look forward to working closely with this new unit, and with all Ministers right across Government, to deliver on commitments and priorities in a new national disability strategy which is currently in development. In terms of cross-departmental collaboration, for example, I am committed to working with the Department of further and higher education to secure a significant pipeline of appropriately-trained staff. In this regard, we will double the number of college places available to students who wish to study, for example, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, as well as those who wish to become dieticians, psychologists, social workers and other relevant disciplines. Proactive collaboration will also take place with all other Departments, including the Department of housing, the Department of Social Protection, the Department of education, the Department of Transport and others. The singular aim here is to ensure that across all aspects of life and society the needs of people with disabilities will be appropriately catered for and addressed.

As Minister, I acknowledge the vital role played by all staff in the disability sector, including those employed by voluntary agencies. I welcome the agreement reached at the Workplace Relations Commission in 2023 that resulted in an 8% increase in pay for section 39 workers. Of course, I am very conscious that further work is needed here to improve pay and conditions for staff. I do believe agreement can be reached in this regard. Support for families is absolutely crucial across the disability sector and under the action plan for disability services work will continue to improve capacity for respite services and to offer a better variety of respite services to suit the diverse needs of families. We know all this good policy intent across the disability sector must be matched by strong and robust resources that sustain this collective ambition. Over €3 billion has been allocated for HSE disability services in budget 2025, which represents more than an 11% increase on the budget allocation in 2024. In this regard, I particularly wish to acknowledge the former Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the former Minister of State, now Senator Rabbitte, on their excellent work.

While the issue of improvements to disability services is front and centre in the programme for Government, great progress will continue to be made to support parents, children and providers across the early years sector too, to ensure that children receive the best start in life. Central to this is a commitment in the programme for Government to progressively reduce, over the lifetime of the Government, the cost of childcare to €200 per child through the national childcare scheme and also explore options to cap costs for larger families. This will be achieved through further and ongoing investment in the national childcare scheme as well as providing universal and targeted subsidies to assist parents with childcare affordability or to help them back into the workforce. In budget 2025, State investment in the early years sector exceeded €1.37 billion for the very first time, and the Government will remain committed to using these funds to improve staffing levels in the sector and to significantly enhance and provide for additional childcare capacity in areas where needs remain unmet.

There is also a commitment to review the 2001 childcare facilities guidelines for planning authorities with the aim of ensuring that childcare spaces are not only provided in new housing developments, but actually put into use, which will in turn help to ease pressure in the sector. Of course, the programme for Government makes very real commitments to the ongoing support of Tusla and of child protection more generally. As Minister, I am acutely aware of the need to ensure that Tusla is supported in recruiting and retaining vital front-line staff, including social workers and foster carers. This has been and will continue to be achieved through social work apprenticeships, advertising campaigns and a commitment to recruit more foster carers into the system by providing greater levels of State support such as pensions and exploring the feasibility of extending the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance.

Finally, the programme for Government commits to building on the good work already done in the gender equality space to ensure that women are afforded the same opportunities as men in business, sport and public life. Specifically, the Department is working to launch an online portal where organisations will be required to report directly to Government on the progress they are making on the gender pay gap. This data will be used by academics and policymakers alike to further our understanding and to identify where future improvements will be needed. This has been just a snapshot of the key commitments of the Department for children, equality and disability in the programme for Government.

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