Disability (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Cormac Devlin (FF), Dún Laoghaire

I welcome the debate on this Bill. Parents who have contacted me about assessments of need consistently raise three points, namely timely appointments, clear answers and a straightforward path that supports their child’s development. We know the current system is not delivering that. In 2008, the HSE received 2,535 applications. Last year, that figure grew to 13,186. By the end of June of this year, 23,282 were overdue. In the first quarter of this year, only one in ten was completed on time. Behind each figure, of course, is a child waiting and a family losing time they cannot get back.
This Bill makes three practical changes. It focuses the assessment on what a child needs rather than on a lengthy diagnostic report, which is in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. It puts statutory guidelines in place so that a family in my constituency of Dún Laoghaire, or a family in Donegal and elsewhere, can expect the same process. It allows applications to be closed where a family has withdrawn or moved abroad, with a right to reinstate within 12 months. What the Bill does not change matters just as much. The six-month statutory timeline stays, the right to apply stays and the definition of disability stays.
I ask the Minister for one assurance regarding Committee Stage. The Joint Committee on Disability Matters raised concerns about the qualifications of the assessment officers who will decide in the first instance whether a child has a disability. Families need confidence in that decision. I would welcome the Minister setting out how it will be provided. Equally, an assessment records a need. It does not meet it. The 11 new in-reach teams, the therapists now in our special schools and continued recruitment are what will turn this Bill into real help.
This Bill deals with the start of the journey. I want to use my remaining time to comment on the other end of it. In recent weeks, I have heard from parents in my constituency who are part of the Before We Die campaign. I thank them for making their views known. They are asking for progress, and they are right to ask for it. Their question is one that no parent should have to carry into old age: who will care for their son or daughter when they are gone? The evidence supports them.
The latest figures from the Health Research Board, HRB, show more than 2,100 adults using disability services whose main carer is aged 70 or over, and 516 whose carer is over 80. They show that 2,197 people needed residential places, with nearly three in four needing one now. I welcome the acknowledgment by the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, on Monday that too many families reach crisis point before a residential place is available.
I know the Government has begun to respond. The Taoiseach met the campaign and put the issue on the agenda of the Cabinet committee on disability. This year’s disability budget is a record €3.8 billion and will be used to fund 152 new residential placements. This week, the Government confirmed that every council will set targets for housing people with disabilities from 2027 to 2030. I will work with my colleagues Councillors Moylan and Clark to make sure that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown’s target matches that need.
I recognise the providers who carry out this work every day. In Dún Laoghaire, there are many providers, but I focus on one, namely the team at St. John of God Services, which has provided generations of people with outstanding support from Dunmore House. Carmona Services supports 750 children and adults with intellectual disabilities, from early years through to day services, respite, residential homes and independent living. Its staff, and the families who fundraise alongside them, are a credit to the community. Even with services of that quality, Carmona has to tell families that they have to wait for a residential place for too long, and that matters to them. The problem is not the people doing the work. It is the number of places available, and we need to see more progress here.
I have two specific requests to make of the Minister. First, that the successor to the action plan for disability services, due from 2027, guarantee a funded future plan for every adult whose main carer is over 70, agreed with the family before a crisis and not after it. Second, that the Department establish the national register of need these parents have called for, so that every family knows where it stands and the State can plan ahead.
Every family deserves timely assessments and a clear path to services that work for them right through the person’s life. I look forward to working with the Minister and her officials as she continues to make progress on these issues.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23