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

Speech and language therapy. The HSE now has an initiative called Glór, which is specifically for delivering speech and language therapy to children with Down's syndrome. It is a whole lifespan approach. For the first time ever, a number of organisations came together, including Down Syndrome Centre, Down Syndrome Ireland, Hub 21 and someone else who I am forgetting. There were four organisations that all came together with a funding proposal for the HSE because it is very clear that we needed to intervene to support people in that situation. I hope that is good news. The Senator also spoke about her particular group, which might benefit from funding. Our Department, together with Rethink Ireland, launched a funding call about two weeks ago. It is still open. The Senator can check the Department's social media on that. It is the community participation fund. The group may well be a candidate for that.
I thank Senator Martin Conway for sharing his lived experience. I thank Senator Cosgrove for sharing her experience as somebody who worked in this area. While it is difficult for me to intervene in any potential industrial relations matters, I certainly would be open to hearing what the situation may be.
Again, I thank all the Senators who have participated in this debate. I particularly thank the Senators who have acknowledged the progress that we are making. That is important for the morale of people who day in and day out are delivering so much hard work in the HSE, the Department and section 38 and section 39 organisations, as well as our advocates. Their voices are being heard, they are being listened to and they are delivering change. We have got to keep going, we have to stay motivated, we have to do this together. We are asking for this to be done on a cross-departmental basis. I would like it to be done a cross-party basis, too, so that where we have good ideas, we come together, share them, drive and work together because we all have the same ambition here, that is, to improve the lives of people with disabilities. That is what it boils down to. We all know them. They are in our families and communities. We want to have a positive impact on their lives. That is what my team and I, and more importantly, my officials and the officials that I work with in the HSE do every day in work. I thank them for their support and hard work.
I apologise, as I should have mentioned this when I spoke about the Before We Die campaign. The Taoiseach has convened a Cabinet committee on disability meeting for Monday. Two of the topics that will be the focus of that meeting will be residential respite and housing. The Department of housing will be at the meeting. The Minister for housing and his officials will be at that meeting as well as ourselves. As I said in my opening remarks, while disability is absolutely a priority in our Department, it needs to be a priority in every single Department.

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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