Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister, Deputy Foley. I invite her to give her opening address.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach as ucht an deis a thabhairt dom. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for the opportunity to mark a major milestone - the recent launch of Ireland's National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. This strategy was at the heart of my focus during the negotiations for budget 2026. Historically, to my mind - I have never faltered in saying this - disability services have been underfunded in this country, so I was really conscious that people with disabilities would be watching to see if this budget, the first of five, would be the start of a journey together for a better future.

I am pleased to say that the package secured in budget 2026 contains substantial additional funding of over €600 million, which will help us to deliver the step change in disability services that is so urgently needed for disabled people. In budget 2026, the overall budget for specialist disability services for people with complex needs will be increased by 20% to €3.9 billion, including capital. This includes services like residential care, respite care and adult day services.

This year, 2025, we are recruiting over 1,000 extra staff in the disability sector. Next year, with the support of budget 2026, we will hire another 945 staff, bringing the disability workforce to almost 23,600 by the end of next year. This includes 150 more staff for children's disability network teams, which provide vital therapies for children. There will also be funding to improve the financial stability of voluntary organisations working in the disability sector. I am conscious that these organisations have faced rising costs.

Securing this additional funding in budget 2026 is an important step forward. I am very conscious, however, that the voice of disabled people has to be heard loud and clear in how we make the best possible use of this funding. I was really taken by the phrase used by David, one of the participants in the awareness campaign for the national human rights strategy for disabled people. He said, "Listen to us instead of telling us what we need." For my part, this is at the very heart of what this strategy is to be about, which is the aspirations, the ambitions and the lived experience of people with disabilities.

Every effort has been made to ensure people with disabilities steered, shaped and structured this strategy. There were focus groups, surveys, interviews and town hall meetings, online and in person, throughout the country. Expert interviewers were also used to access the voices of people who are seldom heard from, such as children with disabilities and people with intellectual disabilities. In some instances, people were able to communicate not just with mouth words but with facial expressions, body movements, sound and assistive technology. I know full well there are always means to communicate if we are truly prepared to listen and to hear. In reality, this strategy has come from the people who matter most: those who live every single day with disability.

After all of the consultation, one wonders what was identified. The top three issues were access to health and social care, having enough money to cover the extra costs related to disability, and being able to avail of and use public or private transportation easily. There is an unwavering focus in this strategy on clear and concrete actions that people with disabilities want prioritised, rather than just looking at it from an official and often siloed perspective. The objective is to look at issues from a whole-of-life perspective. As one disabled person brilliantly put it, "A person's life is not divided into Government Departments."

It is, therefore, fitting that the name given to this first ever national human rights strategy for disabled people was the name requested and promoted by people with disabilities themselves. The strategy is structured around five core areas: inclusive learning and education; employment; independent living and active participation in society; well-being and health; and transport and mobility. I will briefly outline the ambition behind each of these areas.

The first area, known as pillar 1, is inclusive learning and education. We have made progress in recent years in education for people with additional needs. We have doubled the number of special classes to 3,500 and created 16 new special schools. We have over 22,000 special needs assistants and over 20,000 special education teachers. In total, that is more than 40,000 professionals dedicated to the area of working with young people with additional needs. In budget 2026, we are doing more. There will be 1,717 additional special needs assistants and 860 extra special education teachers for students with special educational needs. We know from OECD data that education gaps are at the root of persistent disability employment gaps. This pillar directly confronts that reality through starting early and staying the course. By 2030, we want to see significantly improved access, greater transition supports across all education levels and, ultimately, higher rates of achievement for disabled learners.

Pillar 2 is employment. This is about closing the disability employment gap decisively. We are committed to removing systemic barriers and creating real, sustainable opportunities for disabled people to earn, contribute and thrive in the workforce. There are important improvements in budget 2026 to the wage subsidy scheme for disabled people. The base rate is increasing by €1.20 per hour to €7.50 per hour. I encourage employers to engage with their local Intreo office about this scheme because it offers very strong supports for employing disabled people. Budget 2026 also contains a new guarantee that disabled people can retain the fuel allowance for five years after taking up a job. This is another important confidence-building measure. I thank my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Dara Calleary, for his work in delivering this.

The next area identified in the strategy is pillar 3, independent living and active participation in society. This puts independence, choice and autonomy at the centre of policy.As part of budget 2026, over 9,000 people with complex disabilities will receive the residential care they need, including 250 new placements next year. I have visited some of the new residential developments. They give disabled people an opportunity to live in the heart of their communities and lead lives of their own making. The strategy contains a strong emphasis on providing better access to this type of housing, support services and opportunities for engagement in culture, sport and civic life.

Pillar 4, well-being and health, will improve access to inclusive, integrated health services, from early intervention to mental health supports and health promotion. This goal is clear: better outcomes, higher quality of life, and services that empower disabled people to live fully and live well. Respite services are a very important part in providing support for disabled people and their families. Budget 2026 provides funding for 10,000 extra nights of respite and 15,000 further day respite sessions.

The final pillar of this strategy, transport and mobility, is about one of the most critical enablers of independence, namely, mobility. Accessible transport is so important for disabled people in their daily lives. Being able to avail of and use public or private transportation easily was one of the top three issues identified by disabled people themselves during the development of the national human rights strategy for disabled people. I, therefore, welcome the HSE’s commitment in the strategy to require taxi companies to have a minimum of 20% of their fleet wheelchair accessible when they are bidding for HSE transport contracts. This will encourage existing taxi operators and drivers to purchase wheelchair accessible taxis when they are changing their current vehicles. By 2030, disabled people must be able to move freely and confidently, whether by bus, train or car or on foot, in environments designed with inclusion in mind and policy that will be shaped in full consultation with disabled people themselves.

As a country and society, we must do better for people with disabilities. Tá sé thar am dúinn dul i ngleic leis na deacrachtaí agus na dúshláin a bhaineann le míchumas. Tugann an straitéis náisiúnta um chearta an duine do dhaoine faoi mhíchumas an deis seo dúinn tús nua a chur chun cinn. Guthanna comhionanna, gníomhartha comhionanna, todhchaí comhionann; equal voices, equal actions, equal futures. This is the motto chosen by disabled people themselves for this new strategy. Their message is clear: they want to be treated just the same as everybody else.

Time and again, people with disabilities have shared with me their strong view of nothing about us without us. How right they are. People with disabilities have been at the heart of developing this strategy. They have carved and shaped every aspect of the strategy. That is a first in this country, and it is an important first. I am determined, though, that not only should they carve out the strategy, but people with disabilities should be at the heart of its implementation, including holding all of us to account for that implementation. As a consequence, people with disabilities will sit on the various implementation groups for the strategy. The Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, will also chair the delivery committee, which will report to him every six months. This is in conjunction with the dedicated unit within the Department of the Taoiseach, the Joint Committee on Disability Matters and, of course, the implementation groups.

The Department has also initiated the establishment of the stakeholder engagement structures that will inform the overall delivery and monitoring structures overseeing the strategy throughout its lifetime. A key focus has been on laying the groundwork to strengthen the capacity and sufficiently resource disabled persons’ organisations to ensure that they can adequately advocate for the interests and needs of their members and the wider disability communities they represent.

An important consideration has also been ensuring that other vital perspectives, including the views of people with lived experience, carers, family members, children, people with intellectual disabilities and service providers, are also included in these structures and accounted for in policy development. Helen Keller, the US disability rights activist who did so much to popularise the use of Braille for blind and visually impaired people, said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." That applies across government too. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality has been working collaboratively across government on drafting the first programme plan of action covering the period to 2026. This will be published before the end of this year. The programme plans of action are templates that will effectively guide all Departments and public bodies, leading on implementation of actions across each of the five pillars of the strategy and ensuring successful collaboration.

The National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030 can be a game-changer for disabled people in this country. I look forward to working with every Member in this Chamber and everyone outside this Chamber to make sure it does what it sets out to do - equal voices, equal actions, equal futures.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. Glaoim anois ar an Seanadóir Murphy O'Mahony chun tús a chur leis an díospóireacht.

Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Fianna Fail)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus gabhaim buíochas léi as a bheith anseo tráthnóna. Today, we mark a transformative moment in our national journey towards equality, dignity and inclusion. The launch of the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030 is not just a policy milestone; it is a statement of values, a commitment to justice and a recognition of the lived experiences of disabled people in Ireland.

This is the first strategy published since Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and it is deeply significant that disabled people themselves have led its development. From the motto, "Equal voices, equal actions, equal futures", to the priorities identified, this strategy reflects what disabled people have told us they need and not what others think they need.

As Fianna Fáil Seanad spokesperson on children, disability and equality, I welcome this strategy wholeheartedly. It is ambitious, inclusive and grounded in the principle that disabled people must be treated the same as everyone else, not differently, better or worse but equally.

As the Minister stated, this strategy is structured around five key pillars, each addressing a critical area of life. I will briefly touch on each of them. The first is inclusive learning and education. We know that education is the foundation of opportunity. This strategy commits to creating a more inclusive education system that respects the rights of every child and young person to access the learning environment that suits his or her needs best. It will improve transitions, support educators and ensure that disabled learners are not left behind. We have made progress by doubling the special classes, expanding special schools and increasing support staff, but we must go further. By 2030, we want to see higher achievement rates and better outcomes for disabled learners.

The second pillar is employment. The disability employment gap remains stubbornly persistent. This strategy aims to close that gap. It expands programmes like the work and access programme and doubles the number of dedicated disability employment advisers in Intreo offices. It promotes hiring in both the public and private sectors and ensures that disabled people receive the right supports at the right time to access or return to work, if that is what they so choose.

The third pillar is independent living and active participation in society. This pillar puts autonomy, choice and community at the heart of the policy. Disabled people must have the right and the means to live where and how they choose, not where anyone else chooses for them. That means better access to housing, personal assistance and support services. It also means full participation in arts, culture, sport and civic life, including political engagement. The strategy commits to improving access to justice and ensuring disabled people are not unnecessarily drawn into the criminal justice system.

The fourth pillar is health and well-being. This strategy will improve access to inclusive, integrated health services, from early intervention to mental health supports and from oral health to audiology. It will ensure that disabled children and their families receive timely services based on need. It will promote safeguarding, dignity and well-being, and it will make sure disabled people are aware of and can access screening services and health promotion programmes.

The fifth pillar is transport and mobility. Mobility is freedom. The strategy takes a whole-of-journey approach, applying universal design principles to infrastructure and services. It will reduce the notice required for public transport and support those who need personal mobility options.We have all seen people at train stations, etc., waiting to be put on a train or bus and it is very degrading. It would be great if a person with a disability could decide to go on any bus or train like the rest of us.

Whether by bus, train, car or on foot, disabled people must be able to move freely and confidently in environments designed with inclusion in mind. These pillars are not isolated. Rather, they reflect a whole-of-life perspective because, as one disabled person said so eloquently, and as quoted by the Minister, a person's life is not divided into Government Departments. That is why the strategy adopts a whole-of-government approach, with every Department and State agency responsible for delivering on its commitments. It is important that every Department works together and every law that is passed is disability-proofed.

Oversight and accountability are built in. The Taoiseach will chair the delivery committee - that is how important this is to our party – which will report every six months. Disabled people will sit on implementation groups. This is not tokenism; it is co-leadership. It is a case of nothing about us without us. That will be put into action.

We must also respond to demographic realities. Disability is increasing among children and older adults. ERSI research shows that 36% of 13-year-olds born in 2008 have some degree of disability. Our service must evolve to meet this growing and diverse need, with mainstream first delivery and universal design at the core.

This strategy is a step change and a chance to do better. It is an opportunity to be better and to ensure that disabled people are seen, heard and respected. It is a chance to build a society in which equal voices lead to equal actions and equal futures. Let us honour the voices that shape the strategy and deliver on the commitments that we make here today. Let us ensure that by working together, the disabled people of Ireland will by 2030 be able to say with confidence that they are equal and feel included.

Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the national human rights strategy for disabled people. I welcome, in particular, the fact that disabled people were consulted and that their views shaped the document. A number of DPOs claim not to have been consulted. A promise was made some years ago to draw up a register of DPOs. This has not been done. That is a pity. I would like to see it done in order that we can identify the DPOs made up of disabled persons. They should be consulted by Departments and public bodies, and properly resourced.

A strategy, no matter how good, is of no use if it is not implemented. We need action plans and resources provided to ensure that strategies are implemented. The cost of disability was identified in the consultation process, which the Minister acknowledged. Yet, as a result of budget 2026, disabled people have been left poorer. There has been no cost of disability payment or one-off payments of the type we saw over the past few years, but the cost of living continues to increase. That does not auger well. People hoped there would be something in the budget that would address the cost of disability.

A number of pillars have been identified and, as the Minister said, they are across many Departments. I was a member of the disability matters committee during the term of the previous Government. People from different Departments and public bodies regularly came before us and claimed that disability was an issue for the Department of children and disability. It is not; it is an issue for every Department and public body. Obviously, they are all interlinked, and one impacts the other.

The first matter is education. We must recognise that this is something that is lifelong in nature. It starts as soon as a child is born. I am concerned about the lack of public health nurses in certain areas, particularly as this means that children about whom there are concerns are not identified early enough. That needs to be addressed in order that early intervention can be implemented, something every parent says is key. The lack of early intervention hampers educational attainment. Many children are not in appropriate school settings or are not in school settings at all and are not receiving therapies in the community to help them to thrive. All of those issues need to be addressed.

I visited St. Aidan's Comprehensive School in Cootehill, County Cavan, yesterday. It opened a class for autistic children this year. It had to convert an existing classroom and a couple of office spaces in order to make the space appropriate. It was happy to do that, but the school knows it will require a second class. It is willing to open one next September, but it does not have the physical space. The school has been told by the Department that it will not provide a modular building for this or any other purpose. The Department is no longer providing modular units. I am concerned about that. The Minister for education needs to clarify the position. This matter does not fall under the remit of the Minister present, but I want to know whether the Department of education is no longer providing modular builds to schools. If it is not, I want to know why that is the case. Some of these modular units are very high quality. The school in question would be willing to use one. It commissioned an extension four years ago but this has still not been developed. It now needs more space than the extension would provide. It will have to cap its numbers, including in the context of those with additional needs.

There is a lack of ambition for many of our disabled children, especially those who attend special schools or are in special classes. There is always an assumption that many of these children are incapable of learning. We need to be more open to accepting different methods of learning and we need to open up opportunities for our children and young adults. Communication is a major issue and leads to extreme frustration in many cases. We need to be open to considering new technologies to help young people.

We have the highest level of unemployment among disabled people in the EU. That needs to be addressed head-on. The wage subsidy scheme does not increase in line with the minimum wage, which is something that needs to happen. I recently spoke to a man with a visual impairment who is employed in the Civil Service. He has nothing to do at work because he has not been provided with the adequate and necessary supports to do his job. He goes to his job and wants to work, but feels useless because he is left doing nothing. That is ridiculous. We want disabled people in the workplace, but we want them to be able do their jobs and to be given the supports they require. We do not want them left sitting with nothing to do.

Disabled entrepreneurs are a group of people that are often forgotten about. The support they require very different to those employees. We need to encourage entrepreneurship among disabled people.

Regarding independent living, houses need to be constructed to a universal design standard. Houses are currently required only to be wheelchair visitable under Part M of the building regulations. This is something that needs to be reviewed and updated. Disabled people are often the longest on social housing waiting lists because there is a lack of accessible houses being built. We need to build accessible houses because they will benefit older people who may develop mobility issues. We also need the right to personal assistants. Depending on the nature of a disability, anybody who requires a personal assistant to allow them to live independently cannot be truly independent without one. I am not talking about a carer, but rather someone who works for a disabled person and does whatever is required by that person to help them live, work and move around.

The practice of putting young people in nursing homes has to end. They are put there without their consent and are often left for years without the proper supports. The lack of support in the community for people who are survivors of stroke or those who have acquired neurological conditions impacts their ability to live independently. I have heard from people who have been in car accidents and who went to the National Rehabilitation Hospital where they got wonderful support. When they came home, however, there was absolutely nothing. It was as if they fell off a cliff edge. As a result, they regress. We need the neurological teams that were promised in the programme for Government to be properly staffed in each area.

I am concerned about the number of young adults who have been put into residential settings, which can be poorly managed, in particular those that are privately owned.We often see untrained staff in those. There was a situation recently where two male carers were with one female resident. I do not think that is appropriate whatsoever. There seems to be the use of chemical restraint - the use of drugs to restrain someone - and a lack of activities being provided for the people in residential care. Many of these are private operators. Their main concern is profit. They have a high staff turnover, which is not good especially if many of these people are autistic. They like routine. The HSE is paying for these facilities, so it is taxpayers' money going into the facilities, yet they are not being properly managed or run for the residents in them. Children sometimes require residential accommodation because the family reaches crisis point because they are not being given the supports to manage the children at home. It is a much preferable and cheaper option to put those supports into the family home so that the child can stay there and not end up in a residential setting, with everybody upset by it. There are many other issues I would love to address but I have unfortunately run out of time.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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The Minister is welcome. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. I want to use this time to highlight feedback I have got from a lot of people and others I have engaged with on the ground, so that when we look back after the term of this strategy, we will have hopefully addressed some of these and things will have moved on. At its core, the strategy is about fairness and making sure everyone, no matter their ability, has the same chance to live, work and take part in their community. It is about giving people opportunities and not obstacles with regard to access to work and employment. When we talk about rights and inclusion, access to work has to be front and centre. People with disabilities do not want handouts, as the Minister has said. They want opportunities and the chance to use their skills and creativity to contribute to workplaces that value what they bring to them. We have seen what can be done when that is done well. An example in my area is Triest Press in Roscommon, a social enterprise that shows exactly what is possible when inclusion and ambition go hand in hand. Triest Press was recently awarded third place in the innovative work, innovative, social enterprise, WISE, category at the European Social Economy Awards in Spain. It was the only Irish social enterprise to be named a finalist and invited to the social economy summit 2025 in Spain. That is an incredible achievement and a real credit to everybody involved. It also proves the standards that are possible.

However, we need to make sure more people have those opportunities. Too many people with disabilities are still being left out of the workplace, as my colleague has mentioned. This is not because they cannot work, but because the right supports are not there, or employers do not know where to turn to for help. I know that supports have increased in the past budget, but the Department of enterprise has introduced a new enterprise hub, which has all of the information for them in one place. Something like that would be useful on the disability side of things as well. We need to back employers who want to do the right thing, to give them clear information, practical supports and confidence that the State is with them every step of the way. I also want to talk about funding for support workers. A huge part of that is making sure proper funding is there for support workers. I have heard from many people who tell me that the funding available just does not go far enough and it is holding them back from working the hours they want to work or taking up new jobs. We cannot talk about inclusion and equality if the supports that make those things possible are not properly funded. If we are serious about equality, we have to put our money where our mouth is and ensure that people get the level of support they need to work independently.

On that subject, I recently had a group here from the Brothers of Charity, an advocacy group from Roscommon. They gave me a number of pointers. However, in relation to staffing, a lack of staff in the services at the moment is upsetting for the people supported. Services are short-staffed and a lot of that means people have to miss planned activities. Sometimes they do not know what staff will be on duty when they come in. They have agency staff filling in who do not know them or anything about them. This is very difficult for the people supported. They would like the Government to make working in the disability sector more attractive for staff so that more people will apply for work with people with disabilities. That was just one piece of feedback. Another was about funding for day services. Day services for people with disabilities are funded for 30 hours per week. This feedback came from service users in Roscommon. Staff working hours are only 30 hours for a five-day week, yet people cannot afford to live on that many hours. This is why they are finding it so hard to get and keep staff. This funding means services are open for shorter days and people supported cannot have a proper job or go to college. They need support staff for a full day, not six hours per day. Many people with disabilities want to work and go to college. They want to contribute to their communities. They cannot do this when their service ends at 3.30 p.m. They need day services funded for 39 hours per week, which will help get more staff. It would also mean people supported could achieve all the things they want to achieve.

I would also like to talk about the childcare side of things. Inclusion does not just start at work. It starts earlier than that in childcare and education. Too many parents have told me that children cannot be looked after under the access and inclusion model programme because the hours they need are not covered. That means parents, often mothers, are forced to cut back or leave work altogether. One mother I spoke to works as an occupational therapist helping children with autism and additional needs. However, she has had to reduce her own hours because AIM does not cover the full day her child needs for care. Here we have a policy that is actually making staff shortages worse in another critical area. It is a clear example that the policy unintentionally creates problems somewhere else. We need to look at a proper review of AIM and make sure it is flexible, fair and fit for purpose so that parents are not being penalised for wanting to work or to provide for their families.

Another area I would like to highlight is accessibility. With the same service users, I recently did an accessibility survey of our town at home. It is a key part of inclusion. They do not want to be forgotten. As we talk about revitalising and rejuvenating our towns and villages nationwide, we have to make sure that accessibility is built into the process from the start. Accessibility is not an add-on. It is a right. It affects people with physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities and many others. Local authorities need to adopt this strategy as well. They need to engage with all local groups and representative bodies and not react later when the problems arise. As I mentioned, I recently did a walkability survey with a group of clients from the Brothers of Charity. It was a real eye-opener, I have to say. We walked through town and saw first-hand the barriers that people faced every day like uneven footpaths, poor signage, narrow doorways, crossings, kerbing and even access to public transport. We had to go back 100 m, cross the road and travel 200 m to access public transport. When you see these problems, it is easy to address them, but this needs to be built in earlier when we are doing these strategies.

I will not go on. The national strategy for disabled people 2025 to 2030 has the potential to be a real turning point. I wish the Minister luck with it, and I hope we can work with her on it. I felt the need to highlight some of those areas that people in Roscommon have addressed with me.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I understand Seanadóir Harmon is sharing time with Senator Stephenson.

Laura Harmon (Labour)
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We are.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Laura Harmon (Labour)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I was at the launch of the strategy. I was there to support it, and we wish the Minister well. We need her to succeed with this strategy. The strategy is a significant milestone in the advancement of disability rights in Ireland. For that, it must be welcomed. In ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in bringing forth this strategy, Ireland has said to every disabled person living in our society that their rights matter, just like everyone else's. That is significant and it should not be dismissed. However, disabled people have too often listened to hopeful words and kind speeches but have been left crying out for the real action they need to get on with living their lives with independence and dignity.Therefore, it is very understandable that the publication of this strategy has been met with just cautious optimism from disabled people. Without urgent and sustained action across government, the strategy risks becoming another document left to gather dust on the shelf. We cannot have that. If it is really to deliver change for disabled people, it must be backed by action, not lip service. Far too often in the past, despite many promises, children and their parents had to resort to protests or media interviews to get access to therapies and assessments that they need. That has to end now.

The Government must fund and implement this strategy adequately. While significant progress has been made in our society in recent decades, there remains a long way to go and disabled people continue to face many systemic barriers in their lives. Shockingly, we know that Ireland has the worst employment rate for disabled people in the EU, at 20% below the average employment rate. This is a shocking statistic. We need targeted pathways when it comes to employment and education. There has been some progress made in educational attainment, but we still lag behind. In the Labour Party's recent alternative budget, ahead of budget 2026, we called for additional investment in the form of a 20% increase in funding for employability and workability programmes to support people with disabilities in the workplace. My party also called for a comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities to lay out the clear actions the Government will take to address this issue.

Meanwhile, assessment of need waiting lists are spiralling. Children and families are trapped without the supports that they need. We have well over 10,000 children waiting for assessments of need and essential therapies and the staffing and retention crisis in children's disability network teams, CDNTs, is compounding this issue. Without a properly resourced workforce, this strategy's ambitions will not be realised. The Government's disability services action plan stated that 180 new CDNT posts and 300 therapy assistant posts in 2025 were essential to progressing disability services. However, in April last, nearly one in five funded CDNT posts was left vacant. This is simply not good enough and it is leaving children without the supports they need. There is not much detail in this strategy on how the Government hopes to address recruitment and retention in disability support services. To improve transparency and accountability, the Labour Party has also called for the monthly publication of waiting lists for assessments of need and therapies, so that we can see the updated figures on a monthly basis.

Accessibility remains a major barrier for disabled people. Too many of them face needless barriers that can exclude them from the most simple of daily activities. Public transport is one of these barriers. Active travel infrastructure is failing disabled people. Something as simple as a footpath that needs repairing can represent a real barrier to disabled people being able to access their community. Accessible infrastructure is not negotiable for disabled people. Rather, it is essential to allow them to live their lives in the way that they deserve.

We also need to do more on housing. All new builds should have universal design embedded and local authorities must also be supported to provide the necessary housing and community support to enable independent living. The Government must take this opportunity to fully implement and resource the national housing strategy for disabled people, including funding for technical advisers in the local authorities. The budget was a missed opportunity to introduce the cost-of-disability support payment as well. We need to see this addressed in future. We want this welcome strategy to succeed. The Minister outlined the pillars of the strategy but it needs to be resourced.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and call Senator Stephenson.

Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)
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I think we all welcome the publication of the Government's new strategy for disabled people. We have heard words such as "aspirational" and "potential", but I am concerned that without any meaningful targets, this is not going to address the severe crisis the sector is in. We need to be honest in this discussion that disabled people in Ireland are living in crisis and have heard fine words before. To be frank, our record on disability rights and implementing the UN convention is one of delay and denial.

This strategy will mean little unless it delivers real change for people's lives and we prioritise it. For example, disability rights organisations said that, as a consequence of the budget a few weeks ago, people living with disabilities will be €1,400 worse off a year. I question how we can have that figure and then say we have this commitment to people with disabilities.

Every child and adult should have equal access to learning and training, regardless of their needs or postcode. The barriers that force families to fight for supports are a failure of policy, not of individuals. It is a systemic failure in our policy. In employment, disabled people continue to face systemic exclusion on an all-island basis. We need binding targets, accessible workplaces and employers who are supported and expected to lead on inclusion.

Independent living must become a reality, supported by proper investment in personal assistance, housing and community supports. We all know that participation in society should not depend on whether a person can navigate inaccessible systems or transport, but that is currently not the case. Currently, participation in society is not equal. Well-being and health must shift from a model of gatekeeping to one of dignity and equality, where disabled people have agency and are not forced to go through bureaucracy and red tape. For this strategy to succeed, power must move from this idea of consultation to actual co-design. I do not believe we are at an effective point of co-design in this country. Disabled people are not really co-designing the policies that affect their lives. Anything less than these things would be another broken promise from the Government.

The strategy does not include any commitment on the rights of children with additional needs for assessment of need. It does not have any staffing targets. I recognise that the action plan is due three months after the strategy, but we need this action plan to include benchmarks, timeframes and funding commitments. Otherwise, it is a nice document that has no substance. We cannot do this again to people living with disabilities in Ireland, where we promise the world and deliver very little.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank the Minister, Deputy Foley, for her comprehensive open statement. I welcome the launch and publication of this five-year strategy. We have had strategies before but I genuinely believe that this strategy is comprehensive and meaningful. I also believe the resources are there. The mood music over the last two or three years has been positive in the sense that there is a political determination and willingness now to create a level playing pitch for people with disabilities. Ultimately, all somebody with a disability wants is equality and a level playing pitch.

We have seen significant investment across Government Departments to enable more equality for people with disabilities. As somebody with lived experience of a disability, and a serious one, I think back to when I was in school in the 1980s and early 1990s when there were no SNAs or resource teachers. I went to integrated education in County Clare, and what I had in terms of resources was a visiting teacher for the visually impaired who came twice a year. Without the support and kindness of teachers who were not SNAs or resource teachers, and who gave me extra and went above and beyond, I certainly would not have progressed through the education system in the manner in which I did.

When I went to college there was no higher education access route, HEAR, system. People had to get the points, and that was it. I was fortunate in that I came through the education system and got the points to go to college. Now, we have tens of thousands of SNAs and resource teachers employed and while there will never be enough, the position is not bad considering where we were coming from as a country. In that scenario, a lot more people will get the opportunity to go to college. If they fall short on points, the HEAR system is in place and they will get discounted marks to give them the opportunity and to create a level playing pitch for them in university and college.I would like to see more people with disabilities attend third level than what we have at present. It concerns me that the number of blind and visually impaired students who have attended third level has plateaued or, to a certain extent in some colleges, decreased over the past couple of years. I was personally involved in creating a bursary with Vision Ireland whereby many students got a €1,500 bursary to help them towards their living expenses and social expenses because, unfortunately, people with visual impairments find it more difficult to get a Saturday job than their able-bodied peers. The idea of the bursary was to try to give them some sort of equality in that sense. I am glad to say that many business people in this country have responded positively to the various fundraising initiatives Vision Ireland and I have organised to try to fund the bursary. It is €1,500 a year for four years, which is actually €6,000. I am delighted to have had in Leinster House over the past three or four years some of the people who received the bursary and have come through the system. It was launched officially by the former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. I have to say, it is one of the initiatives I am very happy about.

What also concerns me is a situation whereby a student gets the points or gets to college and gets a degree but then struggles when it comes to getting a placement, an internship and, ultimately, employment. It is very concerning to have 83% of people with disabilities still be reliant on forms of welfare. We are an outlier when it comes to our European colleagues on that.

I thought I had eight minutes but obviously I only have four. Sadly, I could speak quite a lot on this topic but I will conclude. This strategy is extremely important for creating the type of society we all want to see and we all want to live in, one that people with disabilities want to live in as well. The in-built reporting mechanisms, whereby the Taoiseach chairs the review mechanism, is extremely important. Strategies are all very well but it is the deliverables that are important. I wish the Minister of State the very best with this extremely important portfolio.

Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to the Seanad and I welcome the opportunity to discuss the national human rights strategy for disabled people between now and 2030.

I wish to make three key points. The first is something we have discussed before in the House. It has come on my radar in the past 12 to 18 months when discussing it with activists within my own community, namely, Changing Places facilities. In the UK, there are Changing Places facilities right across the country in every large town and village and in public buildings. It is something that wheelchair users find exceptionally useful. It gives great dignity to them and their family members and it is something we really need to catch up on in Ireland. I would welcome the consideration of its inclusion within this and perhaps other strategies. I sit on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and I raised this with Irish Rail last week. Any renovations to train stations, or bus stations, across the country should include Changing Places facilities so that we give greater dignity and access to people who require it.

I wish to compliment the activists in Mayo who have put it on my radar - Kevin and Anne Loftus, Avril Greham, Geraldine Lavelle and Peter Scully - and who have all been pushing and advocating for this. There are towns - all over 10,000 in population - in Mayo that have no facilities, so a young family have to plan to go shopping in a certain town and are beholden to their child not having to use the bathroom until they go home. All plans are made around it. In this day and age, that is unacceptable and we need to make sure policy catches up. We need to incentivise, whether it is private business or public properties, to retrofit to ensure we have Changing Places facilities as widespread as possible.

The second point I wish to raise relates to transport access for bus and rail. This is something that has been raised with me regularly. I believe there is a challenge with the booking system on Irish Rail where it shows users who are trying to book a disabled space that there are no spaces available. When they rock up to the train station, though, there are plenty of spaces available. There is some disconnect between the booking system and the reality. It is something that needs addressing and I have raised it with Irish Rail directly, but I would like to air it here in the Seanad.

One of the final points I wish to make relates to line painting. The standard of line painting right across the country is not good enough. I can only speak for Mayo where I keep a close eye on it and I have asked the local authority to purchase a line painting machine. Basically, many of these disabled bays, loading bays and dropped kerbs at crossings that wheelchair users rely on to cross the street are often blocked. There are supposedly only two contractors that offer line painting services. For many parts of the year, we are restricted by inclement weather so we have an hour of a window to do line painting works. Often, it is not done and it creates huge difficulties for everyone in society, but most importantly the most vulnerable - wheelchairs users and other people with disabilities - who are negatively affected by this.

Finally, with the last couple of seconds I have, I acknowledge the work of the autism-friendly town initiatives popping up all over. It is a great initiative. There is one in Ballina, one in Westport and I believe others in Belmullet and Ballyhaunis as well. These are great initiatives to make our towns and villages more inclusive. I welcome the inclusion of autism-friendly initiatives within the strategy. It is something we need to support. With that, I acknowledge Rebecca Connor-Wood, Janette Kenny, Elisha Beattie and the whole team in Ballina who have spearheaded this and all the different volunteers across the country, supported by AsIAm, which is leading this through a community, grassroots, ground-up approach, which is very welcome. I thank the Acting Chairperson and the Minister of State.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming in today. I welcome that the national human rights strategy for disability focuses heavily on the point of independence for people with disabilities as well as the need for them to choose their own supports and care plans. However, like many disability advocates, I feel let down by the lack of targeted, tangible long-term initiatives. I also express my disappointment that representatives such as my colleagues Senator Clonan and Deputy Ardagh, whose children have direct lived experience with disability, were not invited to the launch of this strategy.

The strategy notes the importance of early intervention but children who eventually get an assessment of need are then left waiting indefinitely for support from psychologists or speech and language therapists. That is shocking. Some of the people who have come to me have been waiting maybe two or three years. The strategy notes that we currently have a shortage of educational psychologists and are losing an average of 12 annually. Meanwhile, our doctoral programmes produce just 14 graduates a year. There simply are not people there for the NEPS to recruit. The worst part is I know several people who have had to leave the country because there were not enough assistant psychologist posts available for training. These people are highly educated and have tried to come back to work within the HSE but have been met with bureaucracy and red tape. I encourage the Minister of State to look into this and streamline the process as quickly as she can to address the shortage.

In Cavan, we are working with a number of people who live in their own homes but rely heavily on PAs. They need increased support and want to move into assisted living. I referenced before the assisted living facility in Donegal as a fantastic example of what can be achieved. It should be replicated around the country. The strategy rightly talks about the need for people with disabilities to choose their own care but that cannot happen when we do not have the facilities to place or to allow the option for them to choose. Terms like "advanced" and "established" are far too frequent in the document, as well as the emphasis on reviews and analysis.We have learned recently that the last Government spent €80 million on reviews and analysis. Disability advocates and campaign groups are blue in the face telling representatives what exactly they need to live independently and what supports are lacking. Acknowledgement is crucial but it is just the first step. The Department has referred to this as a live document, so I would love to see the addition of definite commitments and timelines for housing provision, employment opportunities, personalised budgets and how the Government is addressing staffing shortages for therapies.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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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.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit agus leis an Aire, an Teachta Foley, for their time and for listening.