2026-02-19

97. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the steps being taken to ensure that disability supports adequately meet the needs of people with disabilities, including access to services and timely assessments, and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3476/26]

It comes as no surprise that I will be raising the north side of Dublin again. Regarding the care and work done for people with disabilities and the elderly in north Dublin, the teams are amazing but St. Joseph's Hospital, St. Francis Hospice, Beaumont and St. Michael's House need supports, particularly for the elderly and people with disabilities. Will the Minister give an update on what the Department is doing to support these great teams and to add to care in the north side? The north side has been neglected for too long.

Like the Deputy, the Government and I recognise the importance of early intervention for children with disabilities and ensuring they receive the right services at the right time. That is the bottom line. I am pleased to say that progress has been made in this regard. Over the past few years, the roadmap for service improvement has provided for a series of actions being progressed to improve access to children's disability network teams, CDNTs. These teams provided support to 44,739 children with complex needs as at the end of December 2025. The national CDNT waiting list has reduced by 43%. However, I also recognise that there is still more to do. The HSE national service plan has committed to a further 25% reduction in 2026. To this end, the HSE is developing the 2026 to 2027 service improvement plan for disability services for children and young people, further advancing the work begun under the roadmap. In budget 2026 alone, more than €3.8 billion was allocated for disability services, which represents an overall increase of €1.8 billion since 2020. This is a phenomenal first-time level of investment by Government. The Government has provided funding for additional posts to CDNTs and to shorten waiting lists and waiting times in recent years. This includes further investment in budget 2026 to fund 150 posts for CDNTs. In addition, placements on CDNTs will continue to be expanded alongside the continued expansion in the number of places in higher education to develop the pipeline of future therapists. While it is important to mention that good progress has been made, it is equally important to acknowledge that there are delays accessing supports and services. I am pleased to say, however, that significant activities are under way, both legislative and operational, to improve access to both assessments and therapies for children who need them. The HSE is developing a single point of access referral model, which will ensure that children are referred to the appropriate healthcare service, whether that is primary care, disability or child and adolescent mental health services, at an early stage. As a result, children will not be put on multiple waiting lists or passed from one service to another. Targeted amendments to Part 2 of the Disability Act have been developed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the assessment of need process. This will result in a more streamlined process, which over time will help to reduce waiting times for assessment of need. A total of €20 million was also allocated under budget 2026 to continue the targeted wait list initiative.

Aontaím leis an Aire agus táim an-bhuíoch den airgead atá ar fáil do dhaoine le míchumas. An pointe atá á dhéanamh agam ar son na ndaoine i mBaile Átha Cliath thuaidh is that the families are struggling and I again call for more adequate funding for the facilities in the institutions I mentioned. I also want to bring the Minister's attention to the case of Seán Horan, a resident in St. Michael's House in Ballymun. I would really welcome the engagement with the Department about it but the system needs to be changed. According to Seán's mother, he entered mainstream school and is in fifth year but is now being removed from St. Michael's House. His is mother abided by all the rules but we are not providing adequate funding for the north side. Seán's mother is worried and he does not know where he is going to go next year. If schools such as St. Michael's House were not classed as junior cycle, it would enable Seán to continue to stay in the school and get support he needs. I would welcome any attention towards the case of Seán Horan.

The Minister mentioned the change in the legislation around assessments of need and the Disability Act. We all know the pressure families are under - not being able to get an assessment, the therapies or the necessary early intervention. While we might all support that idea of a single point of access, it needs to work. Assessments of need waiting lists have skyrocketed. I assume they are anywhere between 22,000 and 25,000 at this point and constitute a continuing breach of the law. I can accept the argument that 29% of children are found not to have a disability and the idea that 35% need autism assessments, but the fear relates to who it is that makes the determination about this. The assessment officer has the correct clinical background, which is a necessity. We need an update on what is going to happen from the Department of Education and Youth's point of view because teachers' unions, teachers and families also need to know how assessments will work in getting an appropriate school place. We need to ensure that we are not once again looking at a second-rate assessment because that is the worry at the minute.

Ar an gcéad dul síos, tá sé mar aidhm agam féin agus ag an Roinn áiseanna agus seirbhísí a chur chun cinn, agus tá níos mó airgid againn inniu ná mar a bhí riamh chun é sin a dhéanamh. The primary aim and objective of this Government and this Department is to ensure that we have the funding in place. We have a significant increase in funding this year - greater than we have ever had - to provide the services Deputy Heneghan referenced. I do not know the specifics of the case he referenced here as it is an individual case, but I am happy to take the details from him later and to revert to him. We have €3.8 billion available to us now, which is a €1.8 billion increase since 2020. It will not solve all of the issues; money does not always solve the issues. It is a combination of different things. I appreciate the points Deputy Ó Murchú raised around the assessment of need. He knows that there work is under way to advance the assessment and to streamline the service to make it more accessible to people. There is also the single point of contact and the HSE's autism protocol. A total of 45% of all cases in the first nine months of last year had an autism diagnosis. This separate pathway under the HSE will be helpful as well.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. Táim fíorbhuíoch as an airgead sin. My predecessor Finian McGrath, a former Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues, would also be very proud and I spoke to him again this morning. One of my staff in the Oireachtas has a disability. I have raised this issue in this House previously. We, as policymakers, should have people with disabilities as close to us as possible, but we cannot avail of the wage subsidy scheme. My parliamentary assistant is working as hard as he can but he needs additional support. If we can encourage the Government to bring the wage subsidy scheme into the Oireachtas, we would have people with disabilities closer to people making the policies about their lives. I have raised it with the Minister, Deputy Calleary, as well. He is looking into it and I would love some pressure from the Minister, Deputy Foley, as well. Táim fíorbhuíoch as an airgead sin. Táim ag iarraidh St. Michael's House, St. Joseph's Hospital, St. Francis Hospice and Beaumont Hospital i mBaile Átha Cliath Thuaidh a lua arís. These institutions and their hard-working men and women need more financial support. I welcome the money the Minister has, but I would love that money to go towards these northside institutions. The staff are hard-working and they can deliver the supports that are needed on the ground. I thank the Minister for saying that she will investigate Seán Horan's case as his mother feels that she was penalised for trying mainstream education. The only way the application was set up was for failure because the State did not provide additional space for the school.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Aontaím leis ó thaobh an sárobair a rinne Finian McGrath le linn a thréimhse anseo mar Aire Stáit agus an méid atá fós ar siúl aige chun na ceisteanna seo a fhreagairt. In relation to the issues the Deputy raised regarding St. Michael's House and so many others, I want to recognise the sterling work of all the institutions the Deputy mentioned. I have met with representatives of many of them. I had a meeting last year with a group representing all of the organisations regarding funding issues that they faced. It was for that reason that we really pushed ourselves to move forward in terms of a budget that would significantly support all of these different organisations that are doing great work on the ground. People with disabilities being at the centre, in terms of raising issues and the implementation of policies, is the entirety of the national human rights strategy for disabled people. There is the implementation group that sits on different committees and the delivery committee is chaired by An Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin.