Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 September 2020
857. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Health the additional funding he will make available to disability service providers; and the organisations he has received detailed additional budgetary needs from, in tabular form, with their additional budget lines. [24150/20]
View answerDisability services focus on enabling people with disabilities to achieve their full potential, living ordinary lives in ordinary places, as independently as possible while ensuring that the voices of service users and their families are heard, and that they are fully involved in planning and improving services to meet their needs. To support people with a disability, significant resources have been invested by the health sector in disability services over the past number of years.
The 2020 HSE budget for specialist disability services is €2054.5m. As the Deputy is aware, the Government has also agreed to allocate substantial additional funding to the Health Vote to meet the costs associated with the implementation of the measures outlined in the National Action Plan in response to COVID-19.
The financial implications of measures taken to mitigate impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak are matters which the Department of Health will continue to keep under review in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, as the situation evolves.
As the Deputy will appreciate, I cannot comment at this stage on the outcome of the estimates process, or matters which will be the subject of national service planning in 2021.
Organisations providing specialist disability services to the HSE do so on a contract for services basis. The budget for services provided is a matter for the organisation and the HSE as their statutory funder. On that basis, I have referred to question to the HSE for direct response to the Deputy.
