Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-25
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy for raising a very important issue. I met with the Before We Die campaign well over a month ago in Cork and listened intently to what they had to say about their personal situations. Their personal situations could be amplified with many more. There are 1,389 active applications for residential services, with 281 assessed as priority 1. We are investing and there are investment plans in the current budget, with an extra 20% to create additional places in new residential developments and so forth. I have put it on the agenda of the next Cabinet subcommittee on disability because it involves more than just the allocation of funding, though we will have to allocate funding.
How this has evolved is unacceptable. The focus is on emergency solutions all the time. Many elderly parents are very distressed and anxious, understandably so, about what will happen to their loved ones if they pass from this life.
There needs to be proper co-ordination between section 39 providers, local authorities, the State, the Government and the Departments of disability and health. The Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, and the HSE met with the group last week. The Minister, Deputy Foley, also met with the group. What is happening at the moment is there is a siloed approach to understanding the overall housing needs of adults with intellectual disability. It is not just about what we might traditionally call residential places; there must be a much more holistic approach. In some instances, people are being sent to local authorities to apply for housing in the ordinary way. That is not good enough.
With any application for housing from someone with an intellectual disability, there is a continuum. Some will need some levels of support and others will need greater levels of support. It cannot be a siloed approach saying it is a local authority problem or challenge. It is not. It has to be one where the care aspects are integrated with the housing solution. That is where I want to take this. It will take a bit of reorganisation in terms of how Government operates, as well as local government, section 39 providers and everybody involved here. The priority has to be on those waiting. Over the last number of years, there has been a huge investment in decongregation, which has taken up lot of resources. We need to work through the prioritisation of those in need.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-25