Services for disabled people are either threadbare or non-existent. These are services in areas like education, healthcare, social care and transport that are not optional extras. They are services that disabled people are entitled to as a right. If, eventually, they are provided, it is only ever after a fight. Funding shortfalls, staffing shortfalls and lack of resources are the only guarantees. As highlighted. last night, "Prime Time" covered a crisis in a special school in Clondalkin, Scoil Mochua. Its patron, the Central Remedial Clinic, had been making up a funding shortfall between what the school actually cost to run and what the school receives from the Department of Education. That gap is an enormous €120,000. Parents in that school are now being told they need to raise €120,000 in funds every single year. These are parents who are caring for children who have complex needs. They are exhausted and now they are expected to become full-time fundraisers. It is a case of asking parents to bail out a State that is awash with cash because it will not properly fund schools. It is welcome that there will apparently be engagement with Scoil Mochua now, but Scoil Mochua is not the only special school in difficulty and it should not take a "Prime Time" programme for an engagement to begin with these schools. Many constituencies do not even have a special school, including my own constituency, Cork South-West.

The special schools alliance will give a presentation in the Oireachtas later today outlining major issues with access to therapists and special schools. I hope there will be many Government representatives there. We all know that this Government is in its final days. In the election campaign, the coalition partners will have to defend their record on disability. Given the way in which disabled people of all ages have been systematically failed, I really do not know how they will do that. According to the ESRI, their budget will push more disabled people into poverty. Nearly 13,500 children are waiting for appointments with children's disability network teams and personal transport grants that Fine Gael and Labour axed more than a decade ago have still to be replaced. I could go on. The Government has wasted opportunity after opportunity to improve the lives of disabled people. The litany of failure is shameful.

Tomorrow, the Social Democrats will launch our disability policy. In it, we will make clear that we will not go into any future government unless there is a senior Ministry for disability. We clearly need a full Minister for disability so the interests of disabled people are actually represented at the Cabinet table, because they have been absent for far too long. This is a dealbreaker for the Social Democrats. We will also announce plans about how we will resource services, address staffing shortages and provide oversight and accountability. Does the Minister agree with the ESRI's analysis that the Government's budget will push more disabled people into poverty? Will he tell us more about the engagement with Scoil Mochua and whether funding is there? Does he agree that we need a Minister for disability to finally get the political will that is needed to address the many issues and shortcomings in our services?

The Deputy appears to be approaching this issue through the lens of claims that may or may not be made at election time. That is not the approach of this Government. We have a senior Minister with responsibility for disability. That Minister is Deputy Donnelly. The Government made a decision to move disability services out of the Department of Health and move them. Excuse me; the Minister is Deputy Roderic O'Gorman. He focuses on that in addition to the responsibilities that he has.

The Minister is very confused about it.

The issues the Deputy is raising are ones the Government takes seriously. I go back to the point that I made in reply to Deputy McDonald. Amid the different figures that we will trade and the general political claims that will be made here, I am keenly aware of that young girl or young boy with a disability or additional needs and the support she or he needs early in life. I am keenly aware of the value of those children's teachers, their healthcare professionals, the work their schools do, and the need to support them. The point I would respectfully make to the Deputy is that if she looks at what we as a Government have aimed to do in recent years, we believe and can demonstrate that the efforts have been providing additional supports.

From a special school point of view and that of the important issue that the Deputy raised at the start of her question to me, since 2020, 11 special schools have been established and 1,300 new special classes are being provided across our country. For this school year alone, more than 400 new special classes have been sanctioned, with classes now provided in every county and four new special schools due to open shortly. That is not a reference to amounts of money, which I will come to in a moment. That is the tangible reality of spaces being made available in schools, new schools being opened, and new classes being opened in schools. I, like the Deputy, am so aware of the challenge that those young pupils with disabilities and additional needs face in their lives, and the commitment that this Government has and which we all have to give them the support they need in life and at the start of their journey in life.

The Deputy went on to make the point about disability services and the support available. Again, in no small part due to the leadership of the Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, and the work he has done, which I have seen him do over many years, we have seen in this Government an increase of €1.2 billion being made available to disability services within Ireland, which is an increase of 58% over five years. That increase is happening in recognition of the needs that the Deputy and other Deputies raise. To bring to life what that means to young lives and the support they need, it is the reason, for example, why we have 46,000 children in our country receiving additional support through the spending of the money that I referred to. I agree with the Deputy that we have to work harder to meet those needs but I respectfully make the case that there is progress with regard to schools, special classrooms and the support of our disability services while always acknowledging the further work that we have to remain committed to doing.

The Minister says he is keenly aware of that boy and that girl. When looking at the budget figures, it does not feel like it. He does not have to take my word for it. The ESRI said it thinks the budget will push more disabled people into poverty. Instead, the Government decided to try to splash the cash around indiscriminately in a brazen attempt to try to buy votes rather than invest in these critical services, such as disability services. That was a political choice that was made. On budget day, we saw what we have seen in every other budget from this Government, where we are told of a huge figure that is being invested into disability services this year. The Minister said €336 million but like every other year, we tabled questions to the Department. The Minister has conflated two different figures. We can all agree that the existing level of service is not enough. Like I said, there are no motorised transport grants. How many children are waiting for children's disability network teams? There is not one fully staffed team. It is not enough.

The additional funding, it turns out, was €42 million. That is €22 million less than last year. Does the Minister accept that is a decrease on the additional funding from last year at a time we know the existing level of service is threadbare?

The Deputy referred to the Government splashing the cash. I assume she is referring to the cost-of-living measures. What cost-of-living measure is she against?

The money to-----

Is she against the energy credit? Is she against the change in the domiciliary care allowance?

The €80 million inheritance tax break.

Is she against the changes that we made to support those in receipt of the disability allowance, the invalidity pension and the blind pension? Is she against the payments for those who are in receipt of the fuel allowance or those in receipt of the living alone allowance?

Can the Minister answer my question about the budget?

What about the inheritance tax?

She made the claim about splashing the cash. I am asking her to tell me what measure she is against. During our exchange this afternoon, she might do that.

The Minister might answer the question.

On the question that Deputy Cairns raised, which again it is a really important issue regarding how we support our disability services, she made reference to the existing level of service but, of course, any change there can still lead to further spaces and further supports being made available to more people who need them. In terms of the new measures that were brought forward, the Ministers, Deputies O'Gorman and Donnelly have led on increases in the funding for disability services in recent years. In conclusion, let me continue to acknowledge the need to do more to support those with additional needs and disabilities and those who provide supports to them but I would make the case to the Dáil for the funding that is there and the difference that it genuinely does make.