Disability Services Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18 ============================================================ Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East Once again, I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which is a priority for the Government. The Government recognises that there is more to do to improve the lived experience of those with a disability. The increase in the disability budget for 2026 further demonstrates the multiple commitments made in the programme for Government commitment to improving the lives of people with disabilities and making a difference. The ambition of this Government is to bring about a step change in services for people with a disability in Ireland and we are committed to the expansion and reform of disability services in order to maximise people’s independence and support them to live ordinary lives in ordinary places like everybody else does. This is reflected in the very significant investment being made in specialist services recently. In 2026, we are supporting another 199 residential supports for people with disabilities. While the strategy, policy direction and overall allocation are a matter for the Minister, funding allocations to regions and individual service providers at a local level is an operational matter for the HSE. The Department, in conjunction with the HSE, will always strive to ensure disability services are delivered in an equitable manner across all regional health areas as effectively as possible to ensure maximum benefit for those who require services. I assure the Deputy that this Government is aware of the challenges present across all regional health areas and that the Department is working alongside the HSE to address these challenges and increase the provision of services, including residential services of the various types that have been mentioned in this debate. --- 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/2026-02-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-18