Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 September 2023
248. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if funding has been prioritised to finalise and introduce a comprehensive disability transport support scheme for disability services and service users; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40892/23]
View answerThe issue of mobility supports for people with disabilities is a key priority for me as Minister. I have made every effort to drive progress in this area, whilst acknowledging that this is a complex issue that crosses the responsibilities of a number of public bodies and departments beyond my own. Work is underway, at a whole of government level, to scope out what a more holistic and better coordinated system of transport supports for disabled people might entail.
Under Action 104 of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy, a Transport Working Group was established in 2020 to formulate proposals on how transport supports could be better coordinated across the state. The Group's work sought to capture the range of supports being provided and to develop proposals for next steps. I chaired the work of the Transport Working Group from January 2022 until the conclusion of the Group's work in December 2022. The Final Report of the Group was published earlier this year and is available on my Department’s website.
The Report indicated that further evidence is required to understand the breadth of transport and mobility supports required by people with disabilities across Ireland. In continuing this work I am keen that any supports we provide be sustainable, holistic, joined up, and person-centered, and take a whole-of-journey perspective.
The recommendations of the NDIS Working Group are under active consideration across departments and agencies with responsibility for the wide range of current and historic transport supports for persons with disabilities. To this end, the Department of the Taoiseach recently convened a Senior Officials Group (SOG) to discuss next steps in progressing the recommendations of the NDIS TWG final report. My officials are engaging and actively contributing to discussions on this matter, which are ongoing, and I am pleased to see this matter being progressed and teased out by the appropriate department.
