Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1005. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans, the timeline and estimated cost for continued expansion of respite services, including alternative respite options such as 500 new community-based residential care places to replace disability care in large institutional and campus-based settings and around 900 additional residential care places to tackle unmet need and ensure supply keeps pace with demographic change as promised in the action plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47570/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The targets noted in the Deputy’s question are set by the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026. The Action Plan represents a national strategy for capacity increases and service and policy reform in disability services and was informed by findings from the Disability Capacity Review, published in 2021, in addition to cross-Governmental input and an extensive public consultation.

It is intended to address the capacity deficits identified in the Capacity Review in a phased approach, meaning the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026, represents an implementation plan for the first phase and will be followed by a successor plan in 2027. The Action Plan is a living document and will be reviewed and updated in the light of priorities, policy considerations and the funding available under this and subsequent Budgets.

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 housing investment (supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage). 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.

Action Plan progress is reliant on a variety of dependencies to enable delivery, such as funding, workforce, capacity at an organisational level within service providers, and the availability of an adequate supply of housing to meet the need for residential services.

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.

This record amount of funding will support the realization of the Action Plan through funding for new residential services, day service places, personal assistance and home support hours, developments in children’s services, respite and community neuro-rehabilitation, as well funding to further progress decongregation.

The Programme for Government sets a number of commitments to advance the rights and improve the lives of people with disabilities including to provide additional residential places and new emergency residential placements and to progressively increase funding for respite services.

To support these commitments, Budget 2025 provided €107m 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. Budget 2025 also provided an additional €14m to respite services to cover demographic growth and the full year cost of measures commenced in 2024.

From 2020 to July 2025, 799 new residential places have been provided to people with disabilities including 220 places in 2024 and 113 from January to July 2025. These additional places bring the total residential places, currently being provided by the HSE and contracted service providers to people with disabilities, to 8,793 - an increase from 8,146 in 2021.

Since 2020, there has been a 58% increase in funding into the respite area which has supported thousands of additional respite sessions. In 2024, approximately 7000 people availed of Respite services.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1006. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans, the timeline and estimated cost to increase support for people with disabilities to access supported independent living, the provision of supports to live at home, in order to phase out long-term care in a nursing home for younger people with disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47571/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Programme for Government sets out specific commitments to advance the rights and improve the lives of people with disabilities. These include to increase Disability Home Support and personal assistance hours, to develop a multi-year capital plan for investment in residential and independent living options for both adults and children and to continue to end the practice of placing young people with disabilities in nursing homes.

To support these commitments, Budget 2025 provided a total of €3.2 billion for HSE Disability Services. This amounts to an increase of 11.5% in funding, some €333m, on funding provided in 2024.

Consideration of specialist disability service and funding requirements, including those for the U65 programme, for Budget 2026 is currently ongoing. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality will be engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation and with the Health Service Executive during the process.

Following the publication of the Ombudsman’s “Wasted Lives: Time for a better future for younger people in nursing homes” report in 2021, the HSE is co-ordinating a programme at the Health Regions operational and national levels, to progressively address the review and implement the report’s recommendations for which the HSE has accountability.

From 2021 to 2025, the Government provided funding of €21.4million to the HSE’s implementation programme.

The recommendations include to transition those within this cohort, out of nursing homes and into homes within the community and to enhance the lives of those under the age of 65 currently in nursing homes.

This funding has supported a total of 107 people under the age of 65 to transition from a nursing home into a home of their choosing in the community, with a further 15 transitions expected by the end of this year.

It should also be noted that as of December 2024, 154 people were provided with Enhanced Quality of Life supports such as Personal Assistance hours, specialist and therapeutic supports as well as the provision of Personal devices.

The implementation programme has been divided into five work streams which include:

1. Quality of life and model of service development – “A Place to Call Home”

2. Funding and personal finances

3. Services access and navigation

4. Informed consent policy and human rights

5. Nursing Home (NH) U65 (under 65) survey

It is acknowledged that a key component to implementing the report’s recommendations is to prevent admissions to nursing homes. Preventing entry to nursing home facilities requires a model of service that supports the changing needs of individuals and allows them to continue to live a life of their choosing in the community.

Therefore, the HSE along with Voluntary and Private organisations are providing a variety of supports to people with disabilities including Personal Assistants, peer supports, respite, day services, home supports, Advocacy and Digital and Assistive Technology. These supports are governed by a diverse range of health and social care policies and ongoing programmes.

Additionally, due to the programme of work being carried out by the HSE, there is a greater awareness across Acute services, Older Persons and Disability services of the need to prevent those aged under 65 being placed in Nursing Homes.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1007. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans, the timeline and estimated cost for the option of personalised budgets for those with disabilities, giving individuals greater choice and control over how they are supported; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47572/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A personalised budget is an amount of funding allocated to an eligible person with a disability to enable them to make their own arrangements to meet specified support needs. A key strength of the personalised budget model is the enhanced autonomy and flexibility it offers. Individuals’ can select services that are most relevant and meaningful to them, defining the quality, scope, and delivery of their supports.

To test the delivery of personalised budgets in an Irish context, the Personalised Budget Demonstrator Pilot was established in 2019, on a cost-neutral basis.

The HSE estimates that the administrative costs of expanding this approach to approximately 3,000 individuals (8% of adults in receipt of disability funded specialist services) would be in the region of €1,877,866. Any additional costings would be speculative without conducting further analysis of the costs associated with implementing a system of personalised budgets at national level.

In May 2025, the Demonstrator Pilot commenced its evaluation phase and it is envisaged to conclude by year end. Led by the National Disability Authority, the evaluation will provide critical insights into the barriers and facilitators to rolling out personalised budgets on a larger scale and will therefore inform next steps towards the development of an effective model of personalised budgets model in Ireland.