Disability Matters: Statements (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-22
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Emer Higgins (FG), Dublin Mid-West

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I appreciate that.
Many of those new roles are already filled at this stage. They are going to be helpful to make sure that we are moving from a situation of dealing with crisis cases. Up until now, the funding has only been in place to be able to provide for crisis cases. What we want to do is be able to deliver on a planned basis. For the first time now this year, we have funding in the budget for planned residential places. It is not enough and is a small amount compared with where we need to get to, but that funding is there. We now need to prove that we can fill it, make it work and that this delivers. That gives us the opportunity to ask for additional funding in next year's budget, so we can grow it year on year. We want to move from a situation of crisis to a situation of planned responses because that is the fair and right thing to do.
One of the Senators mentioned Donegal. I was in Letterkenny on Friday. I met the access officer there who informed me that 30% of all local authority builds were accessible accommodation. That is welcome. I hope other local authorities take that lead. All Senators have great relationships with councillors. I ask them to encourage councillors when it comes to the county development plans-----

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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