Disability Matters: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-22 ============================================================ Cathal Byrne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber to discuss this very important topic. I very much recognise the fact that the latest census suggests that we have about 1.1 million people across Ireland currently living with some form of a disability. I am very conscious of the fact that disability comes in many guises. It can be somebody who suffers from a mild inconvenience to somebody who suffers from a profound disability, which has a direct impact in all aspects on so many people, be it their family, their loved ones, the workforce they are a part of or the fact that they cannot seek employment in the workforce. As the first speaker in this debate, it is important for me to recognise the fact that we are talking about a vast range of people and a vast range of people who they interact with on a daily basis as well. I recognise the fact that we have had in the last budget, for 2026, a €634 million increase. This speaks to the fact that this is an issue that was of profound significance in the most recent general election. So many people spoke to me when I was out on doors in Wexford about the impact on their families of interacting with the State services and the difficulties that many people are having in accessing those State services. I definitely recognise the increase in over 1,000 workers available for recruitment to positions in the HSE this year, to make sure that people can get access to the services because that is so important. In my own area in Wexford, there are difficulties with accessing CDNT services. In this Chamber I previously spoke about the difficulties in accessing speech and language therapy for children in particular, in the New Ross area. I recognise that there has been some recruitment in that area, in New Ross, but we need more supports put into that. It is not acceptable in this day and age that children are waiting four to five years for an assessment for speech and language therapy, particularly when having access to that support is such a significant step in all of their further life. In general terms, I recognise something the really important roll-out of the education therapy. I actually attended St. Patrick's Special School, Enniscorthy, with the Minister of State's predecessor, Senator Anne Rabbitte, when a pilot was rolled out to supply speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists directly into a special school. The point made to the parents that day was that they were bringing their children to school or they were being collected and brought to school by a bus. Then, within an hour of the day starting in school, they were leaving to attend an appointment with a physiotherapist, a speech and language therapist or an occupational therapist and then they were coming back and going somewhere else. The pilot scheme made a lot of sense and it worked in Enniscorthy. We have to roll that out further. I know it has been made available to the first round of schools but that model has to be more widespread. For budget 2027, I would encourage the Minister of State to seek further supports to enable that service to be rolled out beyond the initial set of schools that it was for. Many children are being taken out of the school, go to their appointment and are brought back to school. It really is better to have it all under the one roof. Ultimately, I would like to see that rolled out to all the special education classes that we have opening across the country in the new schools as we see most recently as of yesterday. I want to speak for a moment about something that is very significant. I attended the Fine Gael conference on disability in Galway. This was an opportunity for many of the various stakeholders and people who live with a disability on a daily basis to speak directly to our party about what matters most to them. I acknowledge the Minister of State attended the conference as well and would have heard this point directly. One of the big things we spoke about that day was the barriers that exist for people with disabilities to get access to employment. There is a greater need for supports through the Department of enterprise and through the Minister of State's role at the Cabinet table to ensure that those who wish to take up a job are able to do so. Accommodations need to be made to recognise that they do have a disability but they want to be part of the workforce, to be able to work and take up opportunities. The real lived experience of people having to attend interviews in places perhaps where it is not possible to get up the stairs and there is no lift, was one of the key stories told that day. The person could not even get to the interview because it was not in a suitable location for them. Those are the key issues I am hearing about in my clinics in Wexford when people talk about disability services as a whole: access; making sure the supports are widely available; and the fact different parts of the country have different levels of service, which should never be the case. I want to also highlight the work that has started on the abolition of the carer's means test. Many people have told me they feel they have no choice but to apply for carer's allowance but are ruled out of it by circumstances beyond their control. I recognise the last budget saw a significant change in the carer's means test, which will expand it further than ever before, but we have to get there faster. The Minister of State has a unique opportunity in budget 2027 to put resources into abolishing the carer's means test or taking a significant step in that direction. These are people who may have never applied for any other social protection payment and find, through different circumstances, they have to apply to become a carer for a loved one or significant other but are outside the threshold. While work has been done, there is a significant opportunity to do more. For the first time ever, caring is a recognised contribution towards getting a State pension. It is very significant for the State to recognise that if someone has taken time off to care for a child or loved one, that time was work and therefore qualifies for a State pension. That is a welcome change. I welcome the work done but there is far more to be done. I know the Minister of State will lead on this. The fact we have a Cabinet sub-committee and a Cabinet-level Minister of State focused on this area is significant. I look forward to continuing to work with her on this into the future. --- 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/seanad/2026-04-22/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-22