I also join in the condolences offered to Harvey's family. I speak today conscious that much more needs to be done to improve our spinal services for children. The parents of children waiting for spinal surgery have real and genuine concerns and the Government must address those concerns. All parents want the best for their children and every opportunity for their future and rightly so. As one of the negotiators for the programme for Government, I can say it contains a specific commitment to deliver improvements in…

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, as an am agus an deis a thabhairt dom labhairt ar bhuiséad 2026.. I welcome the opportunity to address the House this evening on the key elements of the budget 2026 allocation for the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. This is the first of five budgets where we begin the journey to achieve a number of key objectives. The first is to secure additional funding to deliver the step change in disability services that is so urgently needed for disabled people. T…

I thank the Deputy very much. I reiterate the comments I have made previously. This is such an upsetting and awful situation and, like the Deputy, I extend my sympathies to all those who knew and loved Daniel and recognise what a great source of upset and heartbreak it is to everybody, from the immediate family to the foster carers and wider society as well. I thank the Deputy for her question. I again acknowledge it is a matter of deepest concern to me and to the Government. I was saddened when we learned the rema…

Again, I acknowledge this is a significant step forward in terms of cases that were closed during the lockdowns caused by Covid. It is important to say there are many reasons for a case being closed. Oftentimes, we regard that as a real positive and then on other occasions a case can open again. It is important also to say many of these cases may well be to do with child welfare as distinct from child protection issues, and we need to be cognisant of that. This will be a very worthwhile well-being check. I referenc…

I thank the Deputy and appreciate her engagement on this matter. I think we are all ad idem in our determination that we need to move proactively where we find any gaps in information or support. The Deputy is correct. I have identified the issue with ECCE. ECCE, the early childcare provision, has been hugely successful. It is two years of free preschool care, if you like. We have almost a 97% uptake of that, so it is an ideal opportunity to harness that information and put it to very positive use. We are currently…

The national carer's strategy 2012 sets out Government policy on family carers. Oversight of the strategy is led by the Department of Health, with individual Departments leading on action areas that fall within their remit. The Department of Social Protection provides payment supports to carers, while my Department supports the provision of respite services for people with disabilities and their carers. The Government and the HSE are aware of the importance of respite service provision for the families of both chil…

I recognise the extraordinary service provided by family carers and all carers. Without their diligence and the work that they do, the lives of many would be in a far worse position. I absolutely and unreservedly recognise their work. As I said, respite sessions for people with disabilities have increased significantly, with over 164,000 respite overnights and more than 65,000 respite day-only sessions, but I absolutely accept it is not enough. Respite is a key priority for the HSE and for the Government and over t…

I join the Deputy in recognising the great work of Family Carers Ireland. Spending on respite services for people with disabilities is about €134 million annually. Since 2020 there has been a significant increase in this funding, of 58%. The Deputy is quite correct to put it in the context of the upcoming budget negotiations that we need to do more in this space also. The HSE is about to undertake an audit of respite services across the country, which will also be very helpful and allow us to clearly identify where…

I thank the Deputy for her continued engagement on these matters. As she is aware, the programme for Government commits to "undertake a broad consultation and publish a detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system". Given the need to make progress as soon as possible while also allowing time for a broad consultation process, I intend to publish the action plan in two phases. This autumn I will publish phase 1 of the action plan, which will be short-…

That €25 million investment under the building blocks scheme has and will provide for an additional 1,500 additional places, which are obviously much needed and a positive step forward. It is important, however, that we take the opportunity to review an existing programme every year. I am absolutely committed to reviewing existing measures and adding new measures. Deputy Kerrane referenced the State-led facilities, which are a new innovation and a positive step forward to facilitate those. There is a forward planni…

To reiterate, I am happy to look at any mechanism that will support the provision of additional places. I am very open to that, whatever that mechanism might be. We have opportunities to look afresh now, whether that is through mechanisms like the building blocks scheme or indeed through this new mechanism that we have through State-led facilities. Often, that does not necessarily mean building new premises. The Deputy is quite correct; there are already existing buildings in towns and villages throughout the count…

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú. I recognise the other elements he had in place. In the context of the national human rights strategy for disabled people, there is a recognition that a number of Departments have different roles. This is and must be regarded as a whole-of-government approach. In the consultation process, one of the most telling exchanges that came from a disabled person referenced the fact that no one’s life is divided conveniently into Government Departments. I thought that was a great learning process for…

When it comes to the CDNTs, I would be the first to say that a lot more work needs to be done in this regard. If we wish to look on the positive side, we have seen a nationwide increase of 26% in CDNT staffing levels since October 2023. The national vacancy rate has also reduced from 29% to 18%, but it needs to reduce a lot more. With regard to AONs, I absolutely acknowledge there is an increasing demand for AONs every single day, which has led to a growing waiting list. However, progress has been made in the past …

I acknowledge everybody in this field, the professionals on the front line and the families enduring what they are enduring. I do not forget Cara Darmody's great advocacy work. I want to acknowledge the additional funding in place - the €10 million that is very much close to Cara's heart - to ensure private assessments could be delivered under the AON process. Under that initiative, the HSE provides for the procurement of clinical assessments from private providers and almost 5,000 such assessments have been commis…

I thank the Deputy. He will be aware that the maximum fee caps were extended to all partner services in core funding this month. The introduction of fee caps is an important step towards the reduction of parental fees to €200 per month over the lifetime of this Government. While the fee caps were introduced for new services last year, they now cover all services that are in core funding. In addition, the fee caps are set at a lower level than before. The maximum fee for a full-day place of between 40 and 50 hours p…

We are already at 90% of providers having joined core funding, which is 5% ahead of where we were at this time last year. The opportunity to engage in core funding remains open and services can sign up to the fourth year of the scheme at any point in the year. It is significant to be able to say that at this stage of the year we have reached 90%. We are in an Estimates period and will in the next couple of weeks have the budget. I am committed to seeking to do even more to provide resources, notwithstanding, as the…

There is, as the Deputy conceded, unprecedented Government funding going into the sector. If a provider steps out at any point, that provider can return. The Department has a sustainability fund. If a provider is of the view it is not viable to continue or is having particular sustainability issues, it can in the first instance engage with the city and county childcare committees and it can engage with the Department on the sustainability fund. The purpose is to ensure there is a free line of communication between …

The 2001 planning guidelines for local authorities on early learning and childcare settings were issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The guidelines are intended to ensure a consistent approach to the treatment of planning applications in respect to the land use planning aspects of early learning and childcare provision. The programme for Government commits to reviewing the 2001 childcare facilities guidelines for planning authorities to ensure early learning and childcare spaces are pr…

The Deputy and I have discussed this at length. It is my strong view that the notion of 75 homes and providing 20 childcare places is not fit for purpose. We have also discussed that there are many units across the country that were built-for-purpose childcare but either went for a change of use or were certainly not used for the purpose for which they were intended. As the Deputy referenced forward planning, the forward planning unit of my Department, which is up and running, will be a significant tool to identify…

The entire purpose is to ensure that we can maintain the services that we have, and indeed, provide for new services to meet the demands that are out there. The Deputy will have to concede that the Government is the most significant contributor at this point in time to this sector. The investment from the Government is quite phenomenal but equally so, it is the objective of the Government where necessary for it to step in with the provision of State-led facilities, to do that going forward and to support existing p…