Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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2422. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children on a waiting list for speech and language therapy by health region and integrated healthcare area; age category; and time waiting, in tabular form. [42643/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, 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.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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2423. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children on a waiting list for initial contact from a CDNT, by health region and integrated healthcare area; age category; and time waiting, in tabular form. [42644/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, 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.

William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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2424. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide funding for a community neurorehabilitation team for the midlands in budget 2026, in line with the commitment in the programme for Government to complete the national roll-out of community neurorehabilitation teams; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42648/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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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.

William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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2425. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of whole time equivalent social care worker posts filled in each children’s disability network team within CHO8 in 2024 and to date in 2025, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42664/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, 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.

William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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2426. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the current number of young adults with an intellectual disability in County Laois who are on a waiting list for day services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42665/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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HSE-funded day programmes for people with intellectual disabilities, autism, or complex physical disabilities include a range of centre-based and community-based activities. Access to services is based on an individual’s needs rather than on their diagnosis. The focus is on supporting people to participate in the mainstream activities and in the life of their community, in line with their wishes and needs.

Day services are a vital support for adult with disabilities to participate in the life of their community and to realise their own ambitions and desires. The majority of young people due to leave school in a given year that require a HSE funded day service have been profiled by the end of the previous year to establish their support needs. Once needs are identified, referrals are made to the service provider of choice, funding is committed and negotiations are concluded with providers by end of May to confirm placements to young people and their families. In many instances young people due to leave school at end of June are introduced to their day services for trialling purposes during April, May and June so there is a natural transition into day services in September.

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.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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2427. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her attention has been drawn to recent data from the national federation of voluntary service providers showing that 1,500 people with intellectual disabilities are living with family carers aged 70 or older; if she will outline her Department’s plans to respond to this crisis in care and housing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42672/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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This Government acknowledges that the vital support provided by family carers plays a crucial role in the care and well-being of many people with disabilities. To support people with disabilities and their families, a range of services are provided including respite, home support and personal assistance services.

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 sets a number of commitments to advance the rights and improve the lives of people with disabilities including to develop a multi-year capital plan for investment in residential and independent living options for adults and children and to progressively increase funding for respite services.

To support these commitments, Budget 2025 provided €3.2 billion for HSE Disability Services. This amounts to an increase in funding of 11.5% on 2024. Specialist Disability Residential services make up the largest part of the Disability funding disbursed by the HSE, approximately 60% of the total budget.

In Budget 2025, €107m was provided to residential services for the development of new placements. €79m of this will meet the incremental cost of new residential services provided in 2024 and €28m is additional funding for new placements in 2025.

This funding supports a number of priorities including the provision of new residential places, decongregation to community settings and transitions of those under 65 from Nursing Homes into the community.

From January to May 2025, this additional funding has supported an additional 67 residential places. This increase brings the total residential places being provided to people with disabilities, by the HSE, together with contracted service providers, to 8,730.

This Government acknowledges that demand for residential services is currently high. The HSE profiles the needs of people who are active applicants for specialist disability services using its Disability Support Application Management Tool, DSMAT. As of Q4 2024, there are 1,558 Active Residential Placements applications.

The provision of residential services has come under increasing pressure in the past few years due to a number of impacting factors such as an increase in the number of individuals seeking access to residential services as a reflection of general population increase, changing support needs of service users, challenges with meeting regulatory requirements, recruitment challenges impacting all areas of disability services and availability of suitable housing. In recognition of these challenges, officials within my Department are engaging with the HSE and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to support the expansion of disability residential services.

For the cohort of individuals who require specialist disability places, the services they need are comprehended by both the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People and the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026.

The Department of Health’s 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 pre 2008 levels of service provision.

In the shorter 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 through additional residential care places, increased support for independent living, provision of supports to live at home and additional intensive support packages. The Action Plan seeks to meet extra need over the 2024-2026 period through the delivery of around 900 additional residential care places to tackle unmet needs and ensure supply keeps pace with demographic change. These targets demonstrate the Government’s ongoing commitment to expanding disability service delivery.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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2428. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will confirm whether the Government remains fully committed to meeting the residential and respite funding needs identified in the disability capacity review to 2032; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42673/25]

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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2429. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her views on the finding of the disability capacity review to 2032 that approximately 90 new residential places are required annually to meet demographic needs in the disability sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42674/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2428 and 2429 together.

As outlined in the programme for government, this Government acknowledges the equal right of people with disabilities to access housing and residential and respite supports in the community, in line with Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is committed to increasing the provision of specialist disability services in order to enhance the lives of people with disabilities.

As identified in the 2021, Disability Capacity Review to 2032 – A Review of Capacity Requirements and Social Care Demand to 2032, demand for residential and respite services is extremely high and exceeds that which can be currently provided.

The Disability Capacity Review has projected a need for a minimum of circa 100 new residential places every year from 2020 to 2032 arising from changes in the size and age-structure of the relevant disability population. The Capacity Review also estimated that between 2018 and 2032, up to 3,900 additional residential places would be required in order to return to pre-2008 levels of service provision.

In acknowledgement of this projection of unmet need, the Programme for Government includes a number of commitments in respect of specialist disability residential services.

To support these commitments, a total of €3.2 billion has been allocated for HSE Disability Services in Budget 2025. This amounts to an increase of 11.5% in funding, some €333m, on funding provided in 2024. €107m of this funding was allocated to residential services for the development of new placements. €79m of this will meet the incremental cost of new residential services provided in 2024 and €28m is additional funding for additional/new residential responses in 2025.

Additional funding to expand respite services has been provided in successive budgets. Spending on respite services comprises approximately 4% of the overall €3.2bn specialist disability services budget and was availed of by almost 7,000 people in 2024. Since 2020, there has been a significant increase in funding into the respite area, increasing by 58% to 2025. This has resulted in the provision of thousands of additional respite sessions.

In 2025, funding of €14m was provided to respite services to cover demographic growth and the full year cost of measures commenced in 2024.

Since the publication of the Disability Capacity review, from 2021 to May 2025, 641 new residential places have been provided to people with disabilities.

As the above table indicates, the estimate of a minimum of circa 100 residential places a year to meet demand as outlined in the Disability Capacity Review has been met, and in recent years, exceeded. These additional places bring the total residential places, currently being provided by the HSE and contracted service providers to people with disabilities, to 8,730 - an increase from 8,146 in 2021.

Funding for residential and respite services is allocated on a year-to-year basis through the annual Estimates process. At this time, engagement continues between the Department of Children, Disability and Equality and key stakeholders, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the HSE, in relation to the 2026 Budget.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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2430. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of new residential disability places that have been created since the publication of the disability capacity review to 2032, in tabular form by year;; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42675/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, 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.