Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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1627. To ask the Minister for Health if there are financial supports for the service providers directly or for the adults with disabilities that attend day services or that live in residential homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18495/21]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to providing services and supports for people with disabilities which will empower them to live independent lives, provide greater independence in accessing the services they choose, and enhance their ability to tailor the supports required to meet their needs and plan their lives.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) funds service providers to deliver day and residential services to people with disabilities via service agreements. These are made primarily with section 38 and section 39 voluntary service providers, and a small number of private for-profit providers.

An additional €100 million was provided in the 2021 Budget for disability services, which sees the budget for specialist disability services exceeding €2.2 billion in 2021.

Of this, an extra €30 million has been provided for day services to increase capacity in buildings and provide extra staff. This will provide an increase in day services by an average of one day a week for 14,940 people against September 2020 service levels.

This additional €100 million also includes provision for increasing capacity within residential services in a planned way, continuing to respond to the need for crisis residential placements and bringing more intensive support packages on stream this year. It will also support people with a disability to move out of congregated settings into residential settings in the community in line with key Programme for Government commitments.

Once-off funding of €20m was made available in 2020 to support voluntary service providers already delivering disability services on behalf of the HSE, under the Strengthening Disability Services Fund. This is funding a range of service improvements including building works, assistive technology and ICT enhancements, and improvements to person-centred services.

In general, financial supports directly to adults with disabilities are a matter for the Department of Employment and Social Protection, under the Disability Allowance payment.