Disability Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17
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Emer Higgins (FG), Dublin Mid-West

I thank Deputy Quaide. I am aware the HSE has commissioned a national disability services needs analysis and the publication of this report is a matter for the HSE. The focus on my Department to identify the scale of unmet need is the work that is currently under way on the disability capacity review, which will go to 2040. This is an update to the disability capacity review 2032, a review of disability, social care demand and capacity requirements, which was published in July 2021. It provides estimates of current and future requirements for community-based disability services and supports. It also identifies costings, based on projections of the future size and age structure of the future disability population out to 2032 and estimates of the scale of unmet need. The updated review will extend the horizon to 2040 and work is ongoing. The publication of that report will follow once it is completed. Using updated methodology, it will project future user demand, age structures, needs profiles and required resourcing of specialist disability services.
The service areas and supports covered will include residential day services, respite, home support and personal assistance, children's disability network teams and multidisciplinary teams. The updated projections will use a variety of updated data sources on current and future demand for specialist services among adults, children and young people. These include the national ability support system, the CDNT information management system, IMS, the HSE day services database and the census among others. The update will use the most recent data available where possible. In most cases, this means data from 2025 though the use of data for projections is also governed by technical considerations such as representativeness and availability. Given the extensive scope of the capacity review, expert stakeholder engagement is and has been an important part of the developmental process and the updated review has involved a variety of organisations so far. There will be continued consultation with relevant organisations throughout.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-17