Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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40. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the actions he is taking to ensure the ratification of the Optional Protocol of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and other commitments in relation to disability and carers in the Programme for Government, before the term of this Government ends; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39164/24]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I am dedicated to ensuring that disabled people are supported to live full lives of their own choosing, on an equitable basis with all others in society, and in delivering on commitments in the Programme for Government in order to advance this objective.

I remain committed to ratifying the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) at the earliest possible date.

In March this year an Inter-Departmental Group (IDG) was established by my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman. All government departments and the Office of the Attorney General are represented on that Group, so that a comprehensive, whole-of-Government approach is taken to ensuring that the necessary preparatory work to provide for the ratification of the Optional Protocol is completed, and so that ratification can proceed as quickly as possible.

Cabinet was updated in July on the progress of the IDG, which has been considering issues across government to facilitate ratification. Work is ongoing to provide a pathway to ratification at the earliest possible date, and I look forward to delivering on this priority.

The Disability Action Plan 2024-2026 was published by Government in December 2023, and work to progress actions for 2024 is underway. This plan forms the first phase of work towards implementing the Disability Capacity Review, in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government. 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 the Disability Action Plan commitment of approximately 1,250 people with disabilities who are leaving school to transition into adult day services from September 2024.

Residential Service capacity has also 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. A total of 81 people under the age of 65 have transitioned from nursing homes to homes of their choosing in the community since the start of the programme in 2021.

The Progressing Disability Services (PDS) Roadmap 2023 – 2026, launched by the HSE on October 24th 2023, focuses on the ongoing development of Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) services to meet current and growing demand with particular focus on recruitment and retention. The Roadmap will underpin the work that the HSE and lead agencies will need to do in order to ensure access to services by children with disabilities and their families, re-focusing efforts in reducing waiting times for children currently waitlisted for CDNTs.

National action on autism is being progressed via the recently published Autism Innovation Strategy. 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.

Additionally, the development of a plan to coordinate the implementation of the UNCRPD is being progressed under the next National Disability Strategy. Public consultation has been completed, and engagement is ongoing across government and with Disabled Persons’ Organisations for the development of what will be a whole-of-government strategy, planned for publication in 2024.