Written answers

Tuesday, 16 May 2023

Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Disability Services

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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568. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to examine alternative transport options and timetabling for persons (details supplied) with disabilities attending a day service in Meath where in certain cases service users are spending up to two hours each way per day travelling to and from the service; if he will introduce financial assistance towards petrol costs in circumstances where parents have to provide transport to help reduce the length of travel time daily; and if such travel expenses will be included under the terms of the personalised budget for people with a disability. [22637/23]

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the HSE provides specialist disability services, including Day Services and Rehabilitative Training, to people with disabilities who require such services, and people with intellectual disabilities would form the majority of service users who are supported by these services. While day service funding does not include transport, some transport supports are provided by the HSE or funded agencies on a discretionary basis, and a variety of transport solutions are pursued in different CHO areas. These include travel training to enable public transport to be used, where appropriate, local transport such as Local Link, private bus transport and taxis, and some service providers provide transport where capacity exists.

In general, day service users are in receipt of disability allowance and are automatically entitled to the Free Travel Pass.

Under the National Disability Inclusion Strategy, the Department of Transport has responsibility for the continued development of accessibility and availability of accessible public transport. To develop proposals for better coordination of transport and mobility supports for people with disabilities, a Transport Working Group was established to make progress under Action 104 of the NDIS. The Group’s final report has been published and it contains valuable proposals to inform future policy and action. It will be incumbent on all Government departments and agencies with responsibility for transport and mobility supports to consider the proposals in coordinating on next steps.

The HSE is continuing in 2023 to deliver on the national personalised budgets pilot demonstrator project. The project seeks to engage 180 adults with a disability who access a wide range of HSE funded services including day services, residential services, respite services, rehabilitative training, or personal assistance services. The Demonstrator project is seeking to test three different models, i.e. (a) a person managed fund, (b) a co-managed fund with a service provider and (c) a broker managed fund.

As Minister of State for Disability, I granted an extension to the Personalised Budget Pilot until Q3 2023, with the accompanying evaluation process to be completed in Q2, 2024. This extension will facilitate suitable applicant participation and allow time for a robust evaluation to be completed.

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