Written answers
Thursday, 17 July 2025
Department of Children, Disability and Equality
Disability Services
Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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476. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether a multi-year capital plan will be developed and implemented to support residential and independent living options for people with disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40505/25]
Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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This Government is committed to the expansion of specialist services for people with disabilities and to support people with disabilities to live meaningful and fulfilling lives, with a person-centred approach across all services provided. The Programme for Government commits to developing a multi-year capital plan for investment in residential and independent living options for both adults and children.
In Budget 2025, €27 million has been allocated for capital projects in disabilities services. This represents a €4 million increase on 2024, reflecting the strong delivery performance across the sector and ongoing demand for capital investment to support safe, accessible, and person-centred disability services.
Furthermore, in Budget 2025, €107 million was provided to residential services for the development of new placements. €79 million of this will meet the incremental cost of new residential services provided in 2024 and €28 million is additional funding for new placements in 2025.
The HSE, together with contracted service providers, is currently providing specialist residential services to 8,729 people with disabilities- an increase from 8,146 in 2021.
From 2020 to 2024, 709 new residential places have been provided to people with disabilities and an additional 67 places have been provided to May 2025, bringing the total to 776.
Planning for new residential placements is informed by demand and applications for services as profiled in the HSE's Disability Supports Application Management Tool (DSMAT).
The 2021 Disability Capacity Review projected a need for a minimum of an additional 1,900 residential places by 2032 and an extra 3,900 in order to return to levels of provision prior to the beginning of the 2008 recession.
In the short term, the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026, published on 14th December 2023, represents a national strategy for capacity increases and service and policy reform in disability services.
The Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026 sets an ambitious three-year target for service delivery, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to expanding disability service delivery. It is important that the State provides the necessary physical infrastructure to support service expansion. I am engaging with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitisation, in relation to the National Development Plan (NDP) review to set out the infrastructure needs for the disability sector. This outcome of those discussions will be reflected in annual capital plans going forward and will allow for strategic objectives to be delivered over multiple years.
It is important to note, while Ministers are responsible for approving the overall Capital Plans, the HSE is responsible for allocating funds to individual projects in alignment with strategic priorities. Funding decisions are made within structured guidelines of the HSE’s Capital Projects Manual Framework, ensuring processes remain transparent and aligned with national priorities.
The Department will continue to engage with the HSE throughout 2025 to ensure capital funding is aligned with assessed needs and national policy priorities. The Government remains steadfast in its commitment to improving disability services and ensuring people with disabilities and their families receive necessary services.
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