Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I thank all the Senators for their contributions to this discussion.

As the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, I have witnessed at first hand the passion, dedication and commitment that disabled people bring to advocating for a more inclusive Ireland, and for continually highlighting the need to provide more and better services. The Government and I are very conscious of the struggles endured by disabled people and their families and loved ones. We are firmly of the belief that disabled people should be able to access the right services at the right time within their own communities, and they should be supported to live independent lives with the same access to opportunity as all other citizens. That is why the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030 is so important. Disabled people and their representative organisations have given generously of their time in the development of this document, and I give my heartfelt thanks to them. This strategy would not have been so ambitious without their input and determination. It is thanks to that input that this strategy reflects the lived experience of the very people it is designed to support. This experience is essential to ensure that everything that we aim to achieve in the months and years ahead makes a real difference to these individuals and their families. From these engagements, we learned that the key issues impacting the day-to-day lives of disabled people include access to a good education, access to good jobs, reliable and accessible public transport, and the necessary supports to live independently and healthily in their communities. The scope of ambition of the strategy fulfils the Government’s commitment to progressively realising Ireland's implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in ways that will have the maximum benefit for disabled people. In the context of disability, human rights are grounded in the equality, dignity and choice of disabled people. This requires the structures and cultures we exist within to be conducive to the full, effective and inclusive participation of disabled people. Realising these rights requires an institutional, environmental and attitudinal alignment with the UNCRPD that comprehensively covers all areas of a person’s life.

To achieve the ambition we so clearly set out, we will need stakeholders to hold us - the Government - to account, and tell us what is working well and what needs to be changed. There are many good things happening in the area of disability and incredible work being done in communities across Ireland, and we want to build on this. However, many disabled people rightly believe their needs are not being met and that we need new ways of doing things. For example, we continue to recruit therapists from a range of disciplines for our CDNTs and our special schools, but we know there are not enough. That is why we must also invest in third level places for therapists, in alternative therapies and in initiatives like autism assistance dogs and Variety Ireland's recycle mobility trikes, which are so important. While the Government is investing in a massive house building programme, not enough homes are being provided for people with disabilities. We know that when appropriate housing is provided, in places like Glensheen Court in Ennis or at Killorglin in County Kerry, which I recently visited, it makes a massive difference to the lives of disabled people and their families, particularly elderly parents who know their child will have a lifelong home to call their own.

We know that disabled people, for a variety of reasons, are less likely to have a job. Organisations like the Together Academy show that many people with a disability who want to work can, but only if the right supports are in place. Disabled people are often prevented from enjoying the same opportunities as other citizens across a range of areas, including education, transport and participation in community life. This is a reality and a lived experience that we must acknowledge, but it is not a reality that I, as Minister of State with responsibility for disability, accept.

We must change how we do things and give disabled people the same rights and opportunities as every other citizen. That is what the strategy is about and why it is so important. The strategy calls out where we need to do better in areas such as increasing the number of respite places, the provision of more day services, growing the number of Irish Sign Language interpreters and harnessing the power of assistive technology. It highlights how we must deliver supports to employers and disabled people to remove barriers to work, conduct walkability audits to make our towns and cities accessible and remove barriers that prevent disabled people from enjoying public spaces like parks, galleries and museums or from partaking in cultural events.

It falls on each Department and each Minister to make sure that happens. No one Department or Minister is responsible; we all are. Key to delivering on the ambitions of this strategy is funding of €3.8 billion which has been allocated for specialist disability services in budget 2026. This represents an unprecedented €618 million, or an almost 20% year-on-year increase, and an overall increase since 2020 of €1.8 billion.

The primary focus of budget 2026 is on ensuring that the budget meets the real cost of the service levels agreed with the HSE, ensuring a stable base upon which to plan and expand services now and into the future. The aim is to provide stability for a sector which has seen significant cost increases in recent years on top of a rising demand for services. Significant funding is also provided to expand services in 2026 in residential care, respite, personal assistance and home support hours. The year 2026 will see continued strong recruitment of in the region of 945 staff, in line with trends in 2025. In addition, there will be investment in pay and pay-related costs, like those associated with recent pay deals, to retain the existing disability workforce and to attract new people into the sector.

To ensure the commitments outlined in the strategy are met, robust delivery and monitoring structures have been co-designed with stakeholders to ensure oversight and accountability. There is a strong focus on collaboration, and delivery will be underpinned by programme plans of action every two years. These programme plans will set out how the key priority actions under each commitment will be delivered, who will be responsible for their delivery and the timeframe for delivery.

At the highest level, the Cabinet committee on disability will oversee the strategy, and all groups responsible for delivery will be accountable to that Cabinet committee. The delivery and monitoring committee is central to implementation and will meet twice a year. It is responsible for overseeing and directing the delivery of the strategy. This group will be chaired by the Taoiseach, underscoring the top-level commitment to progressing delivery. The newly formed disability unit in the Department of the Taoiseach will play a key role in co-ordinating efforts across Departments that are leading on pillars and will support collaborative delivery.

The pillar groupings will comprise a mix of Departments, agencies and stakeholders working together to identify and deliver on the best course of action to achieve the stated ambitions. The inclusion of disabled people themselves is an integral part of this new approach, with the setting-up of a disabled persons' organisation group where members will sit alongside Departments in pillar groupings, ensuring the representative voice of disabled people is directly integrated into decision-making. The chair of the DPO group will participate in the delivery and monitoring committee.

I thank colleagues across government for their commitment in developing this strategy, which we must view only as a beginning. It is an excellent starting point from which we must all continue to build to ensure the strategy’s full implementation and effectiveness. In fact, it is the cross-government framework of the strategy that provides the foundation upon which each of the five pillars is built, and it will therefore be cross-government collaboration that will be the prerequisite for the successful implementation of the strategy.

The publication of this strategy for disabled people is an important achievement in the first year of this Government. Developed in partnership with disabled people, the strategy represents a significant step forward for the realisation of disability rights in Ireland.This Government has promised a step change in the delivery of disability services. This strategy and its built-in enforcement mechanisms form the blueprint for how we will get there, in tandem with the increased budget for specialist disability services in 2026. It is only by matching our words and promises with action that we can earn the trust of disabled people. That is why we recognise this strategy is the beginning of a journey together and is not the final destination.