Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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15. To ask the Minister for Health if he will recognise deafblindness as a distinct disability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36260/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Minister for Health does not classify specific medical illnesses or conditions as a disability. There are a number of definitions of disability that are used for particular purposes e.g. the Disability Act, Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, Equal Status Act, Employment Equality Acts and qualifying criteria for income supports such as Domiciliary Care Allowance and Disability Allowance etc. These definitions describe disability in terms of an individual's functional ability in their environment, rather than a medical diagnosis or a named condition.

The Government currently provides funding of over €1.4 billion to the Disability Services Programme through the HSE's National Service Plan for 2015. Persons with disabilities, including deafblindness, can access a broad range of acute, primary and community based health services, as well as specialist disability services, which are provided in a variety of community and residential settings in partnership with service users, their families and carers and a range of statutory and non-statutory groups.

The Anne Sullivan Foundation for Deaf-Blind is funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE) under Section 39 of the Health Act, 2004. The Foundation received over €1.9 million in 2014 from the HSE for the provision of supports to people who are deaf-blind.