Disability Issues Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-07 ============================================================ Emer Higgins (FG), Dublin Mid-West I thank Senator Lynch for raising this important issue and offering me the opportunity to respond. Supporting people with disabilities and their families is a key priority for the Government. My Department, together with the HSE, is committed to improving disability services so that people can access the supports they need when they need them. This commitment is reflected in both the programme for Government and the new National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, which was co-designed with disabled people and their representative organisations. It was done that way to ensure that their voices and priorities were the heart of policy and service development. The Senator referred to how the lived experience must be taken on board, and that is exactly what has happened in terms of our strategy. It is also reflected in the significant investment being made in disability services. The overall budget for specialist disability services has increased from €1.7 billion in 2017 to almost €3.9 billion this year, with specialist disability residential services accounting for almost 60% of the HSE's total disability budget spend. This year, €65 million has been allocated to support new developments in disability residential services. This includes €14 million to deliver approximately 199 residential responses and 152 new residential placements. Funding will also support new residents in existing placements that have become vacant and require enhancements or, in limited circumstances, placements in nursing home settings. The remaining €25 million will support residential packages for children with complex needs, enhanced supports for existing residents in decongregation transitions and the under-65s programme, which is important. These investments are helping to expand residential capacity and improve outcomes for people with disabilities across the country. As of April of this year, 9,031 specialist disability residential places were being delivered by approximately 90 service providers nationwide. Since 2020, additional funding has supported the creation of more than 1,000 new residential places for people with disabilities. More broadly, the programme for Government commits to investing in residential and independent living options for both adults and children while reducing waiting times for specialist disability services. In support of these commitments, the Ministers, Deputies Browne and Foley, and I have been working with the HSE, local authorities and other partners to improve access to independent living supports and take a more planned approach to the delivery of residential services. There will be an update of this work shortly. A key objective of this is ensuring people with disabilities can access suitable housing and the supports they need to live independently in their communities, as the Senator has asked. While housing policy is led by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, my Department funds the disability supports that enable people to live in their communities, including community living and specialist residential services. Working together through the national housing strategy for disabled people, we will strengthen co-ordination between local authorities, the HSE and service providers to better understand the need and to be able to put together better plans for future housing and residential supports. The Senator referenced Cork County and City Council and the appointment of a new dedicated liaison officer. I met two of the women involved in that campaign only last week and I commend them. I want to let the Senator know that this is something we and the HSE are also doing. New housing co-ordination and residential placement planning and review teams are being established and new housing co-ordinators are being recruited within the HSE. These new roles will be filled by people whose jobs will be helping to support families in this situation and to help increase delivery of appropriate homes. This work is informing the housing delivery action plans and local disability housing targets. It is also helping to ensure future investment reflects identified need. Alongside increasing capacity, we are focused on ensuring residential services are planned and delivered in a more strategic and sustainable way. That is where many of these new roles will also come in, because they will help us put that more strategic focus on ensuring we are planning ahead for the families the Senator has mentioned. Looking ahead, my Department is updating the disability capacity review and developing a new policy framework for specialist residential services to help ensure future supports continue to meet the changing needs of people with disabilities. These initiatives will support a more planned approach to service development, thereby ensuring people can access the right supports in the right place and at the right time. --- 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/2026-07-07/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:09+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-07