Funding for Persons with Disabilities: Motion [Private Members] Dail Éireann — 2023-10-17 ============================================================ Roderic O'Gorman (GP), Dublin West A central element of this commitment is the publication and implementation of the disability action plan, which was approved by the Government in July of this year. This plan will be a living document which will be reviewed and updated in light of priorities, policy considerations and the funding available. In budget 2024, funding of €56 million has been allocated to support the delivery of the first year of the action plan. In conjunction with the HSE, my Department is now examining the deliverables that can be achieved within the first year of the plan. The precise breakdown of measures will be set out in the HSE’s national service plan. In addition to the funding provided for the disability action plan, a further €8.5 million was allocated to support the roll-out of the children’s services roadmap, which we intend to launch by the end of this month. I am very aware that the implementation of these strategies cannot happen quickly enough for those awaiting access to services and their families. I am confident that the allocation for 2024 will allow for crucial investment in these very important services. In response to the question raised by Deputy Cullinane, in budget 2023, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform allocated €110 million to a range of health funded bodies, including nursing homes, hospices and section 39 organisations, to address the pressures that rising prices, and energy costs in particular, were putting on the delivery of vital public services. This additional funding for the health sector provided further once-off support in 2023 for organisations that deliver important services across areas such as disabilities, older persons and mental health in the context of the significant inflationary challenges being faced. While this funding was provided on a once-off basis and is not repeated in budget 2024, account was taken of the increased cost of service provision in setting a substantially increased existing level of service, ELS, allocation for disability services this year. This is an allocation of €131 million as opposed to the allocation of €109 million in 2023. Regarding the rights of persons with disabilities, the motion references the ratification of the optional protocol to the UNCRPD. Ratification of the optional protocol is a commitment in the programme for Government and the Government will fulfil that commitment. The timeline for ratifying the optional protocol was anticipated to begin following the conclusion of Ireland’s first review period before the UN committee. This has not taken place yet because of delays at UN level that are outside of Ireland’s control. Ireland submitted its first state report in November 2021 and we continue to await a review date from the UN committee. In light of this, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I have both indicated that we are open to the earlier ratification of the optional protocol. Our Department has already commenced the necessary scoping exercise to ascertain the requirements for ratifying the optional protocol at the earliest opportunity. This scoping work is a procedurally necessary exercise in due diligence for the State to agree to any supranational and quasi-judicial process and is in keeping with the State’s long-standing position on the ratification of internationally binding treaties. As a country that takes its international obligations extremely seriously and which seeks to act in good faith on the international stage, Ireland does not enter into binding international treaties until we are confident that the obligations set out within can be complied with. While an exact date for ratification of the optional protocol cannot be given right now, it is my priority to ensure that ratification takes place at the earliest possible date and independent of the timeline originally envisaged in the programme for Government. Ireland continues to implement and continuously advance all rights in the convention on a mainstream-first basis through law and policy, and this will be further strengthened with the development of the next national disability strategy. I will also address the references in the motion to the Government's strategy in relation to access to mental health services for people with disabilities. Sharing the Vision is the Government's policy framework for the continued development and enhancement of mental health services in Ireland. While it is recognised that there is an increased prevalence of mental health problems within the intellectual disability population, people with an intellectual disability can access support from mental health services in the same way as the general population, within a framework that is multidisciplinary and based on catchment area. The mental health intellectual disability, MHID, model of care was developed to provide a national vision and strategic direction for the implementation of specialist MHID teams providing person-centred services consistently across the country. The model recognises the strengths of existing services while acknowledging the challenges that must be faced. Teams provide mental health services to people with moderate to severe intellectual disability and work together with colleagues in other mental health and disability services to provide a nationally agreed quality of care programme. The model also provides that solutions for people with intellectual disability and mental health needs lie in establishing effective partnerships between healthcare providers, service users and their carers in a community-wide context. There is ongoing significant engagement with all community health organisations, CHOs, to ensure that all possible steps are undertaken on recruitment to strengthen existing community teams. We acknowledge that there are key challenges that must be addressed if disability services are to fully meet the needs and expectations of those that require them. In the eight months since responsibility for disability services was transferred to my Department, we have passed the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022 and fully established the decision support service. With the imminent publication of the action plan for disability services and the roadmap for children’s disability services, we are setting out a path to enable a step change in service capacity. We are developing a clear pathway forward to underpin future investment in these areas, commencing with budget 2024, and we are addressing long-standing issues like pay and equality that undermine the ability of organisations to deliver services. There are huge challenges in the field of disability but we have started to make meaningful changes. We will continue to increase investment, improve services and make lives better for people with disabilities throughout this country. I commend the amendment to the House. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-10-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:17+00:00 Sitting date: 2023-10-17