Pauline Tully
Question:301. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated full year cost to increase the number of advocates in the National Advocacy Services for People with Disabilities to 50. [5192/24]
View answerWednesday, 7 February 2024
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Written answers
The National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities (NAS) is a Service Delivery Company of the Citizens Information Board, the statutory body under the aegis of my Department, which has a mandate under the Citizens Information Act 2007 to provide advocacy for people with disabilities.
NAS provides a nationwide representative advocacy service for adults with a disability, and has a particular role in supporting people with disabilities who are isolated from their community and services, have communication differences, are inappropriately accommodated, live in residential services, attend day services, or have limited informal or natural supports.
There are 28 permanent whole-time equivalent (WTE) Advocate posts in NAS is 28, along with 8 Senior Advocate posts. Based on 2024 costs, the estimated full-year cost of increasing the number of NAS WTE Advocates posts to 50, are an additional 1,437,876 based on point 1 of the NAS Advocate salary scale. The figures do not include provision for any additional administrative or managerial costs that may arise from such an increase.