Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 509, 511 and 512 together.

As these questions refer to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible. The Deputy will likely be aware that the industrial action by certain Fórsa grades in the HSE has been suspended.

The HSE has indicated that they have recommenced issuing replies to questions but there is a significant backlog of PQs and Reps to be responded to and has advised that they are working to get through these as soon as possible while at the same time managing the volume of current PQs and Reps.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to thank the Deputy for raising this question.

The Deputy will likely be aware that the industrial action by certain Fórsa grades in the HSE that commenced on Friday 6th October 2023 has been suspended.

The HSE has indicated that they have recommenced operations as normal, but there is a significant backlog in the gathering of demographic information such as the data requested. My Department is providing data from September 2023, which is the latest available data on the number of residential places provided for people with a disability.

Residential services make up the largest part of the Disability funding disbursed by the HSE - 58% of the total budget. Approximately 90 service providers provide residential services to over 8,300 individuals throughout the country.

By the end of September 2023, 8,355 residential places were provided.

A number of new Priority (emergency) residential places have been added to the residential base, which results in a capacity increase. However, it is important to note that residential capacity in the system can be reduced. When residents of congregated settings sadly pass away, their places are not ordinarily re-utilised. This is in keeping with Government policy which is to move away from institutionalised settings (i.e. Time to Move On from Congregate Settings).

The idea behind ‘planned residential’ is to support service providers to plan for the development of a house that will accommodate four people rather than single places, which tend to be more expensive. The design and build and/or purchase and refurbishment of a minimum 4 bedroom residence with ancillary requirements per Health and Safety requirements and HIQA registration cost is market dependent and is estimated between €650k to €950k per residence.

There is a minimum level of support needed in any residential facility. Based on the support needs of service users identified on HSE’s DSMAT list, the weighted average cost is just over €250,000 based on the needs profile of this group. Please see table below:

By the end of September 2023, 103 Priority 1 (Emergency) places. The revenue funding requirements associated with these placements would be based on an average cost of range of €300,000 to €330,000 per annum. This is based on the average cost range of placements provided in 2023.

The HSE have informed me that remaining data for 2023 may become available towards the end of February / beginning of March.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The next iteration of the Disability Participation and Awareness Fund (DPAF) will be launched in the coming weeks. The value of this fund will be €3.5m, and it will be open to applying organisations across the country.

As Minister of State with Special Responsibility for Disability, I am committed to supporting the full inclusion, participation and empowerment of adults and young people with disabilities in our community.

In 2021, I was delighted to launch an annual Disability Participation and Awareness Fund (DPAF). The value of the Fund was €2.5m in 2021, and €3m in the most recent call which was announced in 2023. The next iteration of the fund will continue to provide much needed supports to communities throughout Ireland under newly developed themes.

The purpose of the Disability Participation and Awareness Fund is to provide funding to support the participation of people with disabilities in local activities and to remove barriers to community involvement. Through DPAF, funding has been provided for a number of projects that aim to support people with disabilities to participate and engage more fully in their local communities.