Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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645. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to examine the case of a person (details supplied). [15399/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The HSE provides specialist disability services, including Day Services and Rehabilitative Training, to people with disabilities who require such services, and people with intellectual disabilities would form the majority of service users who are supported by these services.

While HSE Day Services funding does not extend to transport, some transport supports are provided by the HSE or funded agencies on a discretionary basis where resources permit, and a variety of transport solutions are pursued in different CHO areas. These include travel training to enable public transport to be used, where appropriate, local transport such as Local Link, private bus transport and taxis, and some service providers provide transport where capacity exists. In general, day service users are in receipt of disability allowance and are automatically entitled to the Free Travel Pass.

My Officials are engaging at a senior level with colleagues across government to map out next steps towards the development of the next National Disability Strategy. This Strategy will provide an ambitious framework for disability policy across the next five years, including in relation to transport and mobility for disabled people. The new Strategy will build on work done under Action 104 of the previous National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS). Under Action 104, a Transport Working Group was established in 2020 to formulate proposals on how transport supports could be better coordinated across the state. The Final Report of the Group was published and is available on my Department’s website.

The Department of the Taoiseach has convened a Senior Officials Group to discuss how the proposals of the NDIS Transport Working Group final report can be progressed. My officials are engaging and actively contributing to discussions on this matter, and outcomes will form a key part of ongoing work for the development of transport-focussed actions under the next National Disability Strategy.

As this question refers to service-related matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.