Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I am wholeheartedly committed to ensuring that children with disabilities are supported on an equal basis with every child in our society.

Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in March 2018. Article 7 of the UNCRPD relates to children with disabilities and articulates the responsibility of States Parties to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children. Ireland's approach to meeting the obligations set out in the UNCRPD is one of continuous advancement, each year moving forward on key reforms and building on the progress achieved.

The Convention was drafted to frame the fundamental human rights set out in the other major UN Conventions in the disability context - to express human rights as disability rights. In doing so it is extremely comprehensive in scope, capturing most aspects of daily life and going well beyond the remit of a single Department or Minister.

Coordination of the necessary whole of government work to advance the rights under the Convention is done my by Department but it falls to each of my ministerial colleagues to develop and implement specific measures on the basis of their ministerial portfolio. In that context, all public bodies must each ensure, on a "mainstream first" basis and in line with the Convention, that they are meeting their obligations under the UNCRPD and in relevant national legislation.

The Deputy can be assured that as Minister for Children and Disability, I will continue to work to fulfil our commitments under Article 7 of the UNCRPD.

On a national level, the implementation of the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (PDS) programme is agreed Government and HSE policy. The PDS model addresses the previous inequity in service provision whereby there may have been an excellent service for some children and little or no service for others. This variance may have been linked to diagnosis, age group or geography. A key objective of PDS is to provide equity of access for all children with disabilities based on need, not on diagnosis. The PDS Roadmap for Service Improvement (2023-2026) was launched by the HSE on Tuesday 24th October 2023 and is a targeted Service Improvement Programme which sets out to achieve a quality, accessible, equitable and timely therapy services for children with complex needs and their families.

Further, a consultation process is currently underway for the next National Disability Strategy. Officials in my Department are endeavouring to engage widely across the disability stakeholder landscape to hear the views of people with disabilities including children and young people.

The next National Disability Strategy will be a fulfilment of a key Programme for Government commitment and will coordinate the continued implementation of the UNCRPD in Ireland and operate as a whole-of-government blueprint for disability policy. Children and young people will be an important consideration for government in the ongoing implementation of the UNCRPD.