Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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328. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the estimated cost of providing an additional 1,000 personal assistance service hours in 2026. [36729/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The HSE provides a range of assisted living services including Personal Assistance (PA) Services to support individuals to maximise their capacity to live full and independent lives.

PA is provided either directly by the HSE or indirectly though a range of voluntary and private service providers.

The average rate for PA service delivery is currently €25 per hour. The estimated full-year cost of providing 1,000 additional PA hours at the current rate is €25,000.

Budget 2025 provided approximately €3.5m in funding to commence the progressive alignment of the PA hourly rate with Older Persons Home Support Services, which is currently €31.47 per hour. When the rates are aligned, the estimated cost of providing 1,000 PA hours would be €31,470.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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329. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the estimated revised cost of meeting service provision and supports identified under the disability capacity review, published in July 2021, given rising costs in the past four years. [36730/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026 represents the first phase of implementing the recommendations of the Disability Capacity Review to 2032. It sets out a range of actions designed to provide better access to disability services. It intends to maximise the impact of service delivery through strategic change and to enable better planning and management through improved information and systems.

The planned improvements require additional investment which would see current expenditure grow by 25% over the 2023 levels indicated in the three-year Plan. Furthermore, the planned expansion of residential services will require significant capital investment in order to provide the necessary housing. It is important to note that, since the publication of the Plan, the cost of service provision has risen and the scale of the uplift required to meet targets has increased in tandem. Funding for the Action Plan is allocated on a year-to-year basis through the annual Estimates process.

In 2024, the Action Plan was supported by €72 million in New Development funding to provide extra residential services, day service places, new personal assistance hours, further de-congregation, and new therapy assistant posts for children's disability services.

In 2025, €42 million in New Development funding was provided for New Developments. This funding will deliver:

- 40 new therapy staff and 20 new therapy assistants for Children’s Disability Services

- Between 1,250- and 1,400-Day Service Places for school leavers

- Circa 70 new priority one residential placements

- 21 moves from congregated settings

- In the region of 4,060 additional overnight respite sessions and 8,000 day-respite sessions

- 95,000 additional PA hours

- 40,000 hours additional Home Support hours.

It should be noted that the rising cost of service provision was addressed through a significant Existing Level of Services (ELS) allocation of €290 million in 2025. Though this ELS funding was provided primarily to assist service providers with cost pressures, it will also contribute to some new service provision arising from demographic growth.

The Department is currently in the process of updating the Capacity Review for Disability Services in order to project service demand and required resourcing out to 2040. The analysis being undertaken to inform the review is multifaceted, taking account of inflation, regulatory costs, changing need and demographics among other factors. Findings from the analysis will feed into the Department’s strategic planning for service provision.