Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Lynch for raising this important issue and offering me the opportunity to respond. Day services are Health Service Executive-funded programmes for people with intellectual disabilities, autism or complex physical disabilities. That includes a range of centre-based and community-based activities. Access to services is based on an individual’s needs rather than on their diagnosis. The focus is on supporting people to participate in mainstream activities and in the life of their community, in line with their wishes.

Pathways adult disability day service is part of Horizons adult day services in Montenotte, Cork. The HSE advises me that refurbishment works being carried out are expected to finish this month. In the interim, another area within Horizons, Montenotte, has been identified for the Pathways programme. The HSE further advises that the school leavers referred to this programme commenced their transition in the week commencing 29 September 2025. All parents have been contacted by Horizons, and weekly schedules have been sent out outlining the days their children will attend the service during the transition period.

The HSE has confirmed that the recruitment of staff for the Pathways programme is ongoing, with some of the staff currently in place. Staff are working with the young adults as part of the transition plan. Once recruitment is finalised for the staffing of the Pathways programme, the young adult service will increase to 30 hours per week. Families will be kept updated by Horizons on a weekly basis.

As the Senator knows, Government investment has enabled the development of much-needed locations, such as Pathways in Montenotte. Within the sector, the New Directions policy has guided a major programme of change to reconfigure adult services, based on the core values of person-centredness, community inclusion, active citizenship and high-quality service provision.

There are over 20,000 individuals with a disability in receipt of day services, together with a further 2,049 in rehabilitative training services. These services are provided at 1,091 locations around the country by 97 service provider agencies. As the Senator knows, we had the budget yesterday. A sum of €3.8 billion has been allocated for specialist disability services in the budget, representing a 20% increase year on year. This includes funding for a new cohort of 1,400 school leavers and also 50 day service places for non-school leavers, for example, people who acquire a disability later in life.

I acknowledge and agree with the Senator’s comments on the importance of dignity and inclusion. It is people in her constituency like the mother she was talking to last night who are the exact families and individuals we want to be able to accommodate when they leave school. That is why we have allocated 1,400 new day service places for school leavers for next year. With regard to the Montenotte facility, my advice from the HSE is that the refurbishment work will be completed this month. I will keep in contact with the Senator because I know it is something she has raised with me previously. We will keep in contact regarding progress and the delivery of the service.