Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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203. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the extent to which disability services for children are readily available throughout north County Kildare; the areas of deficiency in this regard that have been identified; the remediation plans for same; the progress made in this regard in the last six months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39447/24]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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As this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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204. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the extent to which he and his Department continue to meet the needs of people with disabilities of all ages and gender; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39448/24]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for State with Responsibility for Disability, I remain committed to ensuring that disabled people of all ages and gender are supported to live full lives of their own choosing, on an equitable basis with all others in society.

Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in March 2018. The Convention expresses disability rights as human rights and is extremely comprehensive in scope, capturing most aspects of daily life and going well beyond the remit of a single Department or Minister.

As noted previously, coordination of the necessary whole-of-government work to advance the rights under the Convention is undertaken by my 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 regard, 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.

Under my own ministerial remit, the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026 was published on 14th December 2023 and arises out of a Government commitment to work towards implementing the recommendations of the Disability Capacity Review to 2032. The Action Plan commits to the delivery of 110,000 additional Home Support hours to address shortfalls in services and to support people with disabilities to live at home. The Action Plan also commits to 800,000 additional Personal Assistance hours in the same period, with the delivery of 80,000 additional hours in 2024.

I am committed to ensuring that young people leaving school in 2024 who wish to avail of a disability day service place will be supported in doing so. Funding of €18.2m has been allocated for new Day Services places to support approximately 1,250 people with disabilities who are leaving school to transition into adult day services from September 2024.

The Progressing Disability Services Roadmap for Service Improvement (2023-2026) was launched by the HSE on 24th October 2023 and is a targeted Service Improvement Programme which sets out to achieve quality, accessible, equitable and timely therapy services for children with complex needs and their families.

Residential Service capacity has increased from 8146 places in 2021 to 8578 places as of July 2024. Between 2021 and July 2024, 261 people have been moved from congregated settings to homes in the community.

National action on autism is being progressed via a new national Autism Innovation Strategy, published on 26th August 2024. This cross-government strategy aims to identify and deliver tangible solutions to address the bespoke challenges faced by autistic people across Ireland. It seeks to improve awareness and understanding of autism across the public system and wider society. The Strategy contains 83 actions and will be implemented over an 18-month period.

Finally, work is underway to develop the next National Disability Strategy. This Strategy will be a fulfilment of a key Programme for Government commitment and will coordinate the continued implementation of the UNCRPD in Ireland. It will operate as a whole-of-government blueprint for disability policy, and facilitate coherent work across government to support disabled people of all ages and genders.