Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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476. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of new funding allocated in Budget 2026 to children’s disability services; the details of the way in which that money will be spent; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40842/26]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Budget 2026 saw a funding increase for disability services of nearly 20%. Total disability funding from this department for 2026 amounts to 3.9 billion euro.

New funding for children’s disability services includes €8 million which has been secured in budget 2026 to allow for the recruitment of 150 staff to the children’s disability network teams.

Additionally, funding of €20 million is being provided this year to continue the Assessment of Need Targeted Waitlist Initiative, enabling the delivery of approximately 6,000 clinical assessments with a specific focus on autism assessments. These clinical assessments will inform the Assessment of Need process and support the completion of AON reports.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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477. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of new funding allocated in Budget 2026 for day service places for school leavers; the details of the way in which that money will be spent; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40843/26]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid 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.

€45.9m in new development funding is allocated in Budget 2026 for Day Services. This includes the full year cost of 2025 school leaver placements as well as the new cohort of school leavers in 2026. Budget 2026 also provides specific funding to develop placements for in the order of 50 adults with specialist disability service needs who are not school leavers. This will support opportunities to those who may have acquired a disability later in life or who in later life choose to attend the service.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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478. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of new funding allocated in Budget 2026 for new priority one residential placements; the details of the way in which that money will be spent; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40844/26]

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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479. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of new funding allocated in Budget 2026 for moves from congregated settings; the number of moves that will be facilitated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40845/26]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 478 and 479 together.

Approximately €3.9 billion of funding has been allocated to Specialist Disability Services in 2026. Specialist disability residential services make up the largest part of the Disability funding disbursed by the HSE, almost 60% (€2.2billon) of the total budget.

As of March 2026, 9,021 specialist disability residential places are being delivered by approximately 90 service providers. Since 2020, additional funding provided to the HSE has supported the creation of over a thousand additional residential places for people with disabilities.

In addition to funding these existing residential placements, €65 million has been allocated to Disability Residential Services in 2026 for new developments, which includes €40 million of funding that will provide in the region of 199 new residential responses. This includes 152 newly created residential places including 72 planned places and 80 unplanned places to meet urgent need, as outlined in the HSE’s National Service Plan for 2026. This funding will also support new residents in existing placements that have become vacant and require enhancement and in limited circumstances, placements in nursing home settings.

In addition to funding for new residential responses, the remaining €25 million consists of:

• €6 million to support 40 residential packages for children in care with complex needs, in coordination with Túsla.
• €6 million to enhance 38 existing residential placements for individuals whose support needs have increased
• €3 million for decongregation, to support the transition of 58 people from congregated settings to more appropriate homes in the community.
• €10 million for U65s in Nursing Homes, which includes €8 million to support 45 transitions to more appropriate settings, and €2 million to enhance quality of life for those remaining in nursing homes.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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480. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of new funding allocated in Budget 2026 for new respite sessions; the number of new overnight respite sessions and new day respite sessions that will be funded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40846/26]

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.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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481. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of new funding allocated in Budget 2026 for new personal assistance hours; the number of new personal assistance hours this will fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40847/26]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) affirms the right of people with disabilities to live independently and to be fully included in the community, with choices equal to others.

Since Ireland’s ratification of the UNCRPD in 2018, specialist disability services have continued to evolve, with an increasing focus on the social model of disability and person-centred service delivery. One of the key supports in this regard is personal assistance (PA) services, enabling almost 3,000 adults in receipt of PA to maintain their independence.

Recognising the importance of this crucial service, Budget 2026 provided €1.6 million to support the delivery of 50,000 additional PA hours this year.

Budget 2026 also saw a substantial investment of €15m to increase the rate for service delivery for both home support and PA, helping ensure providers can build and sustain the workforce needed to support people with disabilities every day and fulfilling a key Programme for Government commitment to align the disability rates with the rate paid for similar support services in other sectors.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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482. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of new funding allocated in Budget 2026 for additional home support hours; the way in which that money will be spent; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40848/26]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Home support services are provided to both children and adults with a wide range of disabilities from physical and sensory disabilities to intellectual disabilities and autism. The home support service assists the person with everyday tasks to enable them to live at home or with family.

In the order of 7,000 people with disabilities in Ireland are in receipt of home support with €3.4m provided under Budget 2026 to deliver approximately 100,000 additional home support hours this year.

Budget 2026 also saw a substantial investment of €15m to increase the rate for service delivery for both home support and personal assistance, helping ensure providers can build and sustain the workforce needed to support people with disabilities every day and fulfilling a key Programme for Government commitment to align the disability rates with the rate paid for similar support services in other sectors.