Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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629. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the person or body that sat on the Disability Consultative Committee of her Department during its existence; and if she will provide a list of the dates and times of its meetings. [27500/23]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017 - 2022 (NDIS) was conducted under the remit of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). DCEDIY administered the National Disability Inclusion Strategy Steering Group (NDISSG) which oversaw and reported on the progress of Departmental Strategy actions. The Strategy Steering Group composed of representatives of all Government Departments and also representatives of the Disability Stakeholders Group (DSG). The DSG is managed and coordinated by the National Disability Authority (NDA) and is composed of representatives of a number of Disability groups.

Under the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS), it was recommended that all Government Departments establish a Disability Consultative Committee (DCC), to which the Deputy refers, within their own governance structure. The purpose of the DCCs was to collaborate with Government Departments on the implementation of the Strategy. In accordance with that recommendation, I can confirm that my Department had a well-established DCC in place during the course of the Strategy until its conclusion at the end of 2022. The DCC meetings were conducted under my Department's Corporate Governance & Co-ordination Unit and officials from my Department’s various Sectors attended those meetings.

My Department in its current formation was established in 2020, and while the disruptive impact of COVID resulted in no meetings of the DCC taking place in 2021, I can confirm that the following meetings took place in 2022:

In addition to the DCC, I understand that representatives of the Disability Stakeholder Group (DSG), attended meetings of the Strategy Steering group. Officials of my Department also attended those meetings and reported on my Department’s progress on the actions set out in the Strategy. The final meeting of the Strategy Steering Group took place in December 2022 as the Strategy came to its conclusion. I am pleased to advise that my Department’s reports to the Strategy Steering Group, which included DSG representatives, showed good progress on all actions.

My Department awaits and will support any future development of any revised or new National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) and any consequential recommendations. In the meantime, my Department continues to action measures to support disability matters across the various Sectors under my remit and will continue to engage with Stakeholders accordingly.