We are moving to questions on promised legislation. Some 26 Deputies have indicated their wish to speak and they each have one minute to ask one question.

Yesterday, I raised with the Taoiseach the very real sense of abandonment that citizens with disabilities and their families, carers and service providers feel. I asked him to commit to ring-fencing the necessary funding to ensure that services get back up and running to capacity. The Taoiseach cited, of course, the Covid-19 protocols, which I recognise. More importantly, the services, the sector, the families and the individuals with disabilities themselves recognise that those protocols have to be abided by and respected. However, that means the money has to be committed. The winter plan is to be published and the Taoiseach needs to make a commitment now in respect of that necessary funding. The Disability Federation of Ireland states that €120 million is required. I would like the Taoiseach to put people’s minds at ease, bring clarity and commit to ring-fencing and delivering that funding.

Funding will be allocated for the resumption of adult disability services in the winter initiative. There has been considerable investment in and allocation of resources to education for special needs assistants and support for the return of children with special needs to education and to schools across the board in September and, likewise, for the resumption of adult services. There have been constraints with regard to the degree to which those services have been restored.

Not all of them were financial; some related to the impact of Covid-19.