Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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166. To ask the Minister for Health if his Department has undertaken a cost benefit analysis and plans to increase personal assistant hours for persons with disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16948/18]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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167. To ask the Minister for Health the cost of increasing personal assistance hours by 500,000 hours; his plans to improve the personal assistance service for persons with disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16949/18]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 167 together.

In the 2018 National Service Plan, the HSE's priority is to provide 1.46 million hours of personal assistance to more than 2,000 people with disability, representing an increase of 60,000 hours over the 2017 target of 1.4 million hours.

As the Deputy's question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply to the Deputy.