On the 1st March 2023, responsibility for policy, functions and funding relating to specialist community-based disability services transferred from the Department of Health to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. This coincided with the commencement of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022.
One of the central principles and opportunities of the transfer of functions was to ensure a legally and operationally robust governance framework that provides for appropriate budgetary and performance management of the specialist disability services delivered by or on behalf of the Health Service Executive.
The legislative framework now in place is underpinned by a suite of cooperation and reporting arrangements to provide for close collaboration between my Department, the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health.
Responsibility for the delivery of theses specialist services remains with the HSE following the transfer. Importantly, the HSE has its own governance arrangements in place with individual service providers and continues to implement and monitor these on an ongoing basis.
The overall amount of funding transferred from the Department of Health to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is 2.647 billion euros. The disability budget now accounts for almost 45% of the Department's total Vote, and disability policy and service oversight will therefore receive significant and consistent attention in the Department.
The ambition of the Department is to ensure stability post-transfer of functions, particularly in the areas of financial governance and oversight of the HSE, and to significantly develop and reform services for the benefit of persons with disabilities and their families.
The level of unmet need in specialist disability services is clearly set out in the Capacity Review of Disability Services. Finalising the Action Plan for Disability Services and developing the successor strategy to the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) will be key to enhancing services and ensuring that we take a human rights, person-centred approach to both policy and service delivery. These over-arching strategies, and a focus on urgent areas such as children’s services, are the main priorities in 2023. Our programme of work requires a concerted, whole of Government approach to disability, with each Minister and Government Department contributing to a ‘Mainstream First’ approach, which will be an ongoing challenge to develop and encourage. Making progress on this agenda requires a phased, progressive approach and people with disabilities and their representatives will be engaged in the design and delivery of these policies and services.
The Department will continue to build on the achievements to date in advancing the disability agenda and has put in place and resourced a dedicated disability division to support the Government’s vision for a more integrated and person-centred policy approach to serving people with disabilities. This involved the successful transfer of staff and corporate knowledge to the new division. The division now combines the former specialist disability related responsibilities of the Department of Health and the disability equality agenda which previously transferred from the Department of Justice.
In terms of developments in primary legislation, the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 was commenced on March 1st 2023 and the recently commenced Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 abolishes wardship in the State, and provides for new tiered decision-making to ensure that persons lacking capacity are supported and their will and preference is respected.
