Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 15 May 2025

Vol. 1067 No. 3

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Disability Services

Deputy Dessie Ellis

An Saol Foundation is a charity that supports individuals who are unlikely to recover fully from their traumatic injuries and will therefore require life-long support. It also supports families affected by severe acquired brain injuries, SABIs. It is a strong advocate for those affected by severe brain injuries, ensuring respect and dignity for those suffering from this condition. It works with some of the most vulnerable people in society who are unfortunately often left behind by the health service. It also works to change the misconceptions around acquired brain injury and towards greater independence for those affected by this condition. An Saol works to educate the public and public representatives about the needs of people with SABIs and the importance of early and intensive rehabilitation. It is a strong voice for those who have difficulty advocating for themselves. The foundation promotes access to the proper therapies, specialised care and rehabilitation for affected individuals. An Saol Foundation also assists the families of those affected by SABIs by offering them advice and support and providing various resources to help families to deal with the challenges of having a loved one affected by SABIs.

An Saol Foundation is to the forefront in providing therapies to help people to improve and heal. It is also involved in developing innovative rehabilitation programmes. A recent report from the HSE clearly outlined the necessity for the services provided by An Saol. It also determined that these services needed to grow and should be provided with the funding to do so.

An Saol has developed a number of pilot projects to demonstrate the effectiveness of specific rehabilitation approaches. An example of this is the Teach An Saol project. This is An Saol Foundation's national centre for life and living with severe acquired brain injuries. The centre offers therapy, respite and transitional living hubs, the goal being to help people with SABIs to live fulfilling lives. This will be a state-of-the-art facility and one of the few such centres in Europe. It will be the only one in Ireland. The goal is to have an interconnected centre for highly specialised services specifically aimed at those with SABIs. It is proposed to have a social hub, a therapy hub, a respite hub and a transitional shared living hub. A site has been identified in Ballymun for the project. Despite the wide support this project has received, though, there is no certainty that capital funding will be allocated in 2025 to build Teach An Saol.

To date, design and planning efforts worth approximately €500,000 have been contributed pro bono by firms to prepare the application for planning permission and submit it to Dublin City Council, DCC. DCC has made land available in Ballymun for the national centre and An Saol has been working closely with the HSE, which is supportive of the project.

Since the report was published by the HSE, An Saol has had a cut in real terms to its funding. No adjustments have been made to ensure that funding is brought in line with inflation, resulting in An Saol having to scale down services, which has affected staff.

The Minister of State with responsibility for disability has several times over the past two years committed to provide funding for a design and build contract for Teach An Saol. However, this funding has still not been made available to the foundation. An Saol started to work with the HSE on the capital grant application process approximately two years ago but no formal progress has been made in the process. The project has still not formally passed the initiation stages and a national meeting where the application was to be reviewed in April 2024 was cancelled, with no new date yet set.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Timmy Dooley)

I will take this matter on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton. I thank Deputy Ellis for raising this important issue and offering the opportunity to respond. I know of the Deputy's personal interest in the matter. He has been a long-time campaigner on these issues in his time in the House.

Organisations such as An Saol Foundation are invaluable to the disability sector. As the Deputy is aware, An Saol provides specialised care, rehabilitation and community support, empowering individuals with severe acquired brain injuries to lead fulfilling and independent lives. Its contributions are deeply valued by the Government as they are by the Deputy.

The HSE capital and estates unit is engaging with An Saol Foundation to assist with progressing the latter's capital project proposal. The HSE has advised the Department that progress is being made regarding securing a site for the proposed project and an application for planning permission has been lodged. The HSE has prioritised funding for the site purchase and initial design cost, allocating approximately €1.3 million through the capital allocation process. Subject to the timely receipt of all required documentation, the HSE anticipates that this project will continue to progress smoothly through the necessary stages of approval and development. The HSE is working with An Saol to advise on the requirements that need to be met at each step of the process. This includes progressing the project through the approvals process for the property acquisition and the capital funding.

It is important to note that all new capital projects are subject to national HSE approval processes, which in turn are informed by the Government's national infrastructure guidelines. Projects are also subject to prioritisation within available resources. The HSE capital plan for 2025 focused on projects being progressed this year and €27 million was allocated for capital projects in disability services in budget 2025. This represents a €4 million increase on 2024. Capital expenditure is due to grow over the coming years.

An assessment of the current infrastructure as well as the need for additional capital investment into the future, aligned to the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026 and the roadmap for children's services, is a key objective for the Government and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality.

To progress this, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality has asked the HSE to bring forward a disability specific multi-annual capital strategy this year that will help identify the medium-term infrastructure needs for disability services. A senior and dedicated lead within the HSE has been appointed to lead development of the disability capital strategy and to ensure that there is a strategic, directed growth in investment and delivery of capital projects, and that capital projects are delivered on time, on budget and that value for money is being achieved.

The Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026 has very ambitious three-year targets for increasing residential placement capacity, accelerating the rate of decongregation, as well as for providing new day-service places. Whilst meeting these targets will be dependent on increasing staffing complements within services, providing the necessary capital infrastructure will be of huge importance also.

Independent living and housing will also be a major feature of the forthcoming national disability strategy. It must be noted that continued cross-government engagement, particularly with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, will be a critical component of success.

Deputy Dessie Ellis

It is clear that the site is identified and that money, €1.3 million, is supposed to be allocated. However, there is real urgency here. People with severe acquired brain injuries are often left behind and end up in nursing homes with little or no supports or even therapy resulting in unimaginable misery, loneliness and despair. An Saol offers them and their families hope and a way forward. I visited An Saol and saw for myself the work it is doing. This is really new and fantastic work, which is not being done in this country. It is the only one of its kind here and there are only a few in Europe. This would be a massive asset to the people of Ireland. It would be in two phases. The first would be building the unit with all the proper equipment. It is highly technical equipment that gives people a chance, a bit of life and something to look forward to. The second phase would be to provide accommodation so that families can travel. People with this disability have severe needs and it is very difficult to get them accommodation, and, therefore, the second phase is to house them plus the person in question. It is a really fantastic project that should be advanced. There is an urgency around doing this. It has a waiting list and it is being underfunded. That needs to be looked at. I urge the Minister to push this and I urge the HSE to deliver on this and make the case to the Government for the capital funding required.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

The Minister is very aware of this and there is a commitment relating to the planning and the initial acquisition of the site that shows clear intent. Notwithstanding the other aspects I identified, once the Government has committed money in the first instance, the natural expectation is that the project will be built. The Deputy has, in a very direct and open way based on his intimate knowledge and understanding of the project, set out a very clear and comprehensive case. I am sure that he will continue to hold the Government to account on this in the coming weeks and months to ensure that a facility like this will progress. Notwithstanding the various elements I have outlined, it is important we progress with that.

The Government remains steadfast in its commitment to improving disability services and ensuring that individuals with disabilities and their families receive the necessary supports. The Government made it very clear in the programme for Government that disability would be a priority. By implementing strategic policies, increasing financial investment and fostering a cross-departmental approach the Government and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality aim to build an inclusive society where everyone has equal opportunity to prosper. I know that is the core of the Deputy’s interest in this. Organisations like An Saol are invaluable to the disability sector because they bring forward imaginative ideas and drive them from that perspective. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality is dedicated to ensuring that such organisations receive the necessary funding and the policy support to continue growing and expanding their services. Their efforts strengthen the overall disability support infrastructure, creating a more inclusive and supportive society for all. Indeed, Ireland’s commitment to disability rights is demonstrated by its ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in March 2018.

The ongoing support for organisations like An Saol aligns with the objectives of the UNCRPD reflects the Government’s dedication to implementing its provision at national level.

Wastewater Treatment

Deputy James Geoghegan

I raise this in the context of a very live issue. Dublin City Council recently went out to public consultation on a brownfield site known as Ballyboggan where more than 6,000 homes could be built. As part of that consultation, Uisce Éireann identified two very significant challenges to the delivery of those homes. The first was wastewater treatment and the absence of a wastewater treatment plant in the area to service those homes. The second, and it is either fortunate or unfortunate that the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley is in the seat here today, relates to the Dublin to Shannon water pipeline and the possibility there may be an insufficient water supply to support the construction of those homes on this site.

The context for this master plan being put out to public consultation is as a result of the Government’s decision to update the national planning framework to go out to every local authority in the country and ask them to identify what parcels of lands they have to deliver more homes and houses. However, elected members of Dublin City Council will be faced with a very challenging decision when it comes to the rezoning of those lands if Uisce Éireann, formerly Irish Water, is telling the council and the councillors that there is not a sufficient wastewater treatment plant in the area and there may be risks to the water supply. As someone who previously served on the council, I would find it very difficult to make a decision to rezone that land. That is why it is so essential that we establish this strategic housing activation office. The example of Ballyboggan is a classic case where if we banged heads together, we could find interim solutions and ensure that councillors could be confident that if they rezoned the land, they would be doing so in a way that was safe and sufficient, that would have an adequate water supply and wastewater treatment plant and that interim solutions could also be provided.

Ballyboggan is also illustrative of the multifaceted challenges we have in the delivery of housing in this country. Uisce Éireann’s mentions the absence of a wastewater treatment plant. That plant was first before An Bord Pleanála in 2019 but arising from local objections, it ended up in judicial review in the High Court. It is only back before An Bord Pleanála. We must see and believe that the new Planning Act, significant parts of which have been commenced, will make a substantial difference to the planning process so that the public can have faith that when these applications are put forward that only in very exceptional circumstances will they end up in the higher courts and experience delays that we simply cannot afford.

I have no doubt the kind of example I have given in Ballyboggan could be replicated throughout the country on smaller parcels of land.

It is so essential, in the moneys we give to Uisce Éireann, that we see demonstrable connection between those moneys and how many water connections for houses it will deliver over the long term and the kind of interim solutions that can be provided. In many cases, we simply cannot wait for those long-term solutions to arrive. We need to act now.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Water supply in the greater Dublin area is dependent on large abstractions, as he knows, from the River Liffey and the River Vartry. To address this, Uisce Éireann is progressing long-term projects to secure our water supply for the future, including two major projects for Dublin and the eastern and midlands region. The water supply project eastern and midlands region was approved in principle by the Government in June 2024. It is a generational project that will address the water supply deficit and lack of capacity for growth in the eastern and midlands region by supplying water from a hydropower reservoir on the River Shannon, which I am reasonably familiar with. The greater Dublin drainage, GDD, project will develop a new regional wastewater treatment facility and associated infrastructure to serve north Dublin and parts of counties Kildare and Meath. The GDD planning application is currently under review by An Bord Pleanála with a decision expected in the coming months. These two major projects are scheduled for completion in the early 2030s and will secure the water services for Dublin and the surrounding regions into the future.

Uisce Éireann also has interim plans to address water supply risks in the greater Dublin area, GDA, and to improve its water supply by reducing leakage, increasing raw water storage and carrying out upgrades to the current infrastructure to ensure they can obtain maximum output. These interventions will allow Uisce Éireann to control the water supply until delivery of the water supply project in 2032. The GDA is amber on the register maintained by Uisce Éireann to indicate the capacity status of its various treatment plants rather than an unconstrained "green" status. However, Uisce Éireann will prioritise new connections for water supply for domestic properties to support housing needs across the area and assess non-domestic connection applications on a case-by-case basis.

Uisce Éireann will work with developers of large non-domestic developments to reduce water requirements through the use of more water-efficient technology. More generally, the Government is delivering a sustainable funding path to further enhance the ongoing significant improvement in our public water and wastewater services. In 2018, the rate of leakage nationally was approximately 46%, but by the end of 2022 it had reduced to 37%. Uisce Éireann is on track to achieve a national leakage rate of 25%, with the expectation of a GDA rate of 20%, by the end of 2030.

It is also important to remember that in the past ten years, Uisce Éireann has ramped up capital delivery capability for water services and infrastructure from €300 million in 2014 to approximately €1.3 billion in 2024. Record funding has been allocated between 2020 and 2024. This will continue under the National Development Plan 2026-2030.

Of course, it is clear that one of the major issues in addressing the deficit in housing is linked to a lack of water and sewerage infrastructure and, at another level, grid capacity. The Government is very cognisant of that and is committed to the continued roll-out of the funding required to put that infrastructure in place. The Deputy very eloquently highlighted the needs in the greater Dublin area, but that is also the case in other regional towns and cities. It is something the Government is focusing on as part of the need to address the shortage of housing in the marketplace.

Deputy James Geoghegan

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Some people might find it shocking to know that 85% of all the water supply in the GDA comes from one source. It is definitely the case that we have been talking about the Shannon to Dublin pipeline for well over a decade at this point. This specific example I spoke to illustrates the urgent need for that critical infrastructure project, which, let us not deny, will cost several billions of euro. That is why the Government has taken a decision to ensure that the priority, when it comes to capital investment, will be infrastructure. It may be that wastewater treatment plants and water pipelines are not the pretty things, as it were, with shiny red bows on them, but they are absolutely essential to delivering our most pressing need, which is housing.

It would be remiss of me, in the context of wastewater treatment plants, not to mention, in my own backyard, the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant, which has received record levels of investment after long years of pursuing it, and fines and everything else, with more to come. There is an aspect of that I would like Uisce Éireann to respond to me on, which is the modernisation of how it manages wastewater tanks during storms. The impact of that, especially on Sandymount Strand, is it makes areas no-go for swimming. The water quality is such that it is one of the few beaches in the Dublin area where people cannot swim. There must be a more modern way in which we can manage storm outflows than simply throwing that untreated treatment straight into the water that is going directly into the UNESCO biosphere. I thank the Minister of State for the response.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

The Deputy's interest in this matter is very clear. His desire to address issues in his area on behalf of his constituents is commendable and is noted.

As I said, our water and wastewater infrastructure requires substantial and sustained investment over a number of investment cycles to bring the systems up to the standard required of a modern service, to provide for population growth and to build resilience in the face of climate change, as the Deputy identified in respect of Sandymount Strand. To address these challenges, the Government has outlined key strategic investment priorities for public water and wastewater capacity through the national development plan. These include the water supply project I described, which will provide essential capacity to support the water supply needs of up to 50% of our population. Similarly, the greater Dublin drainage project will protect public health, safeguard our environment and facilitate growth in the greater Dublin area to 2050.

Currently, 40% of the nation's wastewater is treated, as the Deputy said, at Ringsend. This over-reliance on one location is not sustainable and is a barrier to the delivery of housing and economic development, not only in Dublin but in counties Kildare and Meath. More locally, the north city arterial main project will see the significant replacement and installation of a strategic trunk main in the northern area of Dublin city and neighbouring Fingal. The new infrastructure will reduce the risk of interruption to an estimated 29,000 properties.

It is also very clear from the programme for Government, which the Deputy will be familiar with, and the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have made it clear, that now is the time for action. The Government plan over the next five years is to move from a phase of strategy and planning to implementation and action. There is a very significant focus on that at Government level. It is now time for all Departments and agencies to move because we have reached a point where the lack of infrastructure in particular areas is having a drag on economic growth and putting sustained pressure on housing output, which is a very important issue on the minds of most in the House and certainly outside it.