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Press release

Minister O’Gorman and Minister Rabbitte launch the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026

  • the Action Plan provides for an ambitious programme of service expansion for the next three years
  • publication of the Plan builds on a government commitment to act on the recommendations of the Disability Capacity Review to 2032

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, and Minister of State for Disabilities Anne Rabbitte have today published the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026.

The action plan represents the first phase of implementing the recommendations of the Disability Capacity Review to 2032. It sets out a range of actions designed to provide better access to disability services, to maximise the impact of service delivery through strategic change and to enable better planning and management through improved information and systems.

Key priorities for the 2024 to 2026 period include measures to increase capacity in children’s disability services, expand respite services, provide extra residential places, and provide extra home support and personal assistance services. A record €2.9 billion in funding was allocated to specialist disability services in 2024, including €64 million to fund measures under the first year of the Action Plan.

The majority of the actions in the Plan will be delivered through the HSE and voluntary services providers, funded by the HSE. However, the Plan also contains cross governmental actions including in areas such as maintaining links to mainstream health-services, pathways to employment and delivery of increased residential services, to ensure joined-up thinking and an all-of-government approach.

The planned improvements will require additional investment which would see current expenditure grow by 25% over the three years of the plan. Furthermore, the planned expansion of residential services will require significant capital investment in order to provide the necessary housing.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister O’Gorman said:

“The Disability Capacity Review set out the scale of the challenge in terms of addressing unmet need in disability services. The Action Plan launched today, is an ambitious plan designed to tackle these constraints and provide meaningful change for those who use disability services. The ambition of the Plan does not stop at building extra capacity within services, it also seeks to innovate and maximise impact for service users. Furthermore, the Action Plan represents a step towards realising the vision of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by maximising independence and supporting people to live ordinary lives in ordinary places.”

Minister Rabbitte stated:

“This government has demonstrated its commitment to people with disabilities with increasing levels of funding since 2020 and a record €2.9 billion being provided in 2024. However, we know that there is much more to do, which is why I am pleased to be launching this Action Plan for Disability Services.

"In my time as Minister for Disabilities, I have gotten to know the challenges faced by people with disabilities and their families and carers as they try to access the services and supports they need. With this Action Plan, we are setting ourselves an ambitious set of targets for the next three years that will seek to expand service provision to address pent up demand. We know it will take time to meet the challenges set out in the Disability Capacity Review but, with this Action Plan, we have an opportunity to make an inroad into meeting that challenge. I look forward to working with the HSE and all action owners to ensure we deliver on the targets set out.”

Read the full report.

Notes

The headline service improvements which are planned over the 2024-26 period are as follows.

Children’s Disability Services

  • around 600 extra WTE staff for Children’s Disability Network Teams 2024-2026 to address vacant posts, build capacity, deliver timely access to early intervention and multidisciplinary supports, and ensure continuity of services

Adult Multidisciplinary Therapies

  • additional 222 posts in specialist adult therapy services
  • develop a nationwide network of neuro-rehabilitation services including managed community rehabilitation networks as the community-based specialist tier

Adult Day Services

  • on average around 1,200 additional day service places each year to ensure places for school leavers who require them

Personal Assistance and Home Support

  • 800,000 additional Personal Assistance hours, and 110,000 additional Home Support hours

Respite Services

  • continued expansion of respite services, including alternative residential options

Residential Services

  • 500 new community-based residential care places to replace disability care in large institutional and campus-based settings, with a view to ending that form of provision by 2030
  • around 900 additional residential care places to tackle unmet needs and ensure supply keeps pace with demographic change
  • increase support for people with disabilities to access supported independent living
  • provision of supports to live at home, in order to phase out long-term care in a nursing home for younger people with disabilities

The Disability Capacity Review to 2032 – A Review of Social Care Demand and Capacity Requirements to 2032 was published by Government in July 2021, along with a Framework Action Plan, setting out key areas for attention.

The detailed Action Plan was then developed in late 2021 and early 2022 by an interdepartmental Working Group with officials from the Department of Health, Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Department of Social Protection, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Health Service Executive.

Their work was informed by an extensive public consultation, in which around 800 people participated. Get further information on the consultation and its results.