2958. Deputy Joe Neville asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to the commitments in the Disability Action Plan, the work that has been carried out or the plans to help families who have an adult child with Down syndrome living at home and who has multiple care needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61005/26]

To support people with disabilities and their families, the HSE and contracted service providers endeavour to provide the correct supports for individuals when needed including day services, respite services, residential services, home support and personal assistance.

Significant investment has been provided in 2026, to expand the provision of a range of services to support people with disabilities and their families. Approximately €3.9 billion of funding has been allocated to Specialist Disability Services in 2026, representing a 20% increase on the previous year.

HSE-funded day programmes for people with intellectual disabilities, autism, or complex physical disabilities include a range of centre-based and community-based activities. Access to services is based on an individual’s needs rather than on their diagnosis. The focus is on supporting people to participate in the mainstream activities and in the life of their community, in line with their wishes and needs.

The HSE also provides a range of assisted living services including personal assistance (PA) and home support services to support individuals to maximise their capacity to live full and independent lives. To support the fulfilment of commitments in the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026, funding has been provided in successive Budgets to support the delivery 225,000 additional hours of PA and 140,000 additional hours of home support.

Budget 2026 also saw a substantial investment of €15m to increase the rate for service delivery for both home support and PA, helping ensure providers can build and sustain the workforce needed to support people with disabilities every day and fulfilling a key Programme for Government commitment to align the disability rates with the rate paid for similar support services in other sectors.

With regards to respite services, €25m in new development funding was secured in Budget 2026 for the expansion of respite services which has afforded the HSE the opportunity to plan for the expansion of services with a range of respite initiatives underway expected to deliver in the region of 10,000 additional overnight sessions and 25,000 additional day sessions this year. The HSE’s National Service Plan targets a total of 175,000 overnight respite sessions and 91,000 day-only respite sessions delivered to 7,332 people in 2026. As of the end of Q2 2026, 91,758 overnight and 41,351 day-only respite sessions were delivered.

This year, in addition to broadening access and increasing activity for overnight respite and day sessions, the HSE planned an expanded summer programme of respite initiatives nationally and offered €5m of their new development budget for 2026 to support this. The initiatives supported covered a wide range of activities including community inclusion and social participation initiatives, specialist summer camps, short-break and overnight respite provision, life skills, independence and transition supports, outdoor learning and physical activity, art, music, culture and STEM initiatives. The HSE has reported some initial feedback that this programme was a success.

Residential services make up the largest part of the Disability funding disbursed by the HSE, almost 60% of the total budget. As of July 2026, 9,000 specialist disability residential places are being delivered by approximately 90 service providers.

In addition to funding ongoing services, €65m has been allocated to Disability Residential Services in 2026 for new developments, which includes €40m of funding that will provide in the region of 199 new residential responses. This includes 152 newly created residential placements consisting of 72 planned placements and 80 (Priority 1) new placements to meet urgent need.

This Department continues to work closely with the HSE to achieve a more balanced response to the demand for residential placements and move towards planned provision and away from unplanned responses where possible. HSE regions are working collaboratively with voluntary service providers in each Integrated Healthcare Area to identify and prioritise individuals, in an effort to ensure plans are in place before a crisis arises.