Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
30. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of respite hours provided for children in each of the past five years, respectively, in tabular form, including 2025 to date. [71673/25]
View answerRespite is a key priority area for the HSE for people with disabilities and their families and we have seen significant investment in respite services, which has impacted positively on the level of service delivered in successive years.
The table at the following link shows Respite Services activity levels from 2019 – 2025:
The level of activity shows that pre COVID-19, the number of Respite Overnights provided by the HSE and its partner Provider Agencies was running at around 158,000 Overnights each year. The delivery of services was significantly impacted by the onset of the pandemic in 2020/21. The number of respite overnights operated at just over 50% of the NSP target for 2020, due mainly to necessary precautions to maintain physical distancing and to adhere to infection prevention and control requirements.
The figures presented above refer to both adults and children and while the HSE does not currently disaggregate respite activity data into separate child and adult profiles, we can say the following from a review conducted from the July 2025, HIQA Register of Designated Centres for Persons with a Disability:
There are 164 respite centres operating throughout the country with a total of 798 respite beds. These comprise of 90 centres with a total of 423 respite beds for Adults, 47 centres with a total of 227 respite beds for Children’s, and 27 centres with a total of 148 respite beds – Mixed (Some centres provide respite for both adults and children on alternating weeks).
Based on the above breakdown, we can extrapolate the approximate proportional split between adult and child respite services as: Adult – 62%; Children – 38%
In this context, the table at the link below shows the approximate number of respite overnights provided to children in the last five years:
Respite can occur in a variety of settings for various lengths of time, depending on the needs of the individual service user and their family or carer, and according to available resources. Respite is not always centre-based and can be provided in a number of ways, e.g. Centre based; In-Home; Home-to-Home; Family Support, etc. As a vital part of the continuum of services for families, respite potentially helps prevent out-of-home full-time residential placements, preserves the family unit, and supports family stability.
Since the pandemic, there has been increased investment in Respite Services that included additional allocation in successive National Service Plans. However, there has also been increased costs due to more stringent infection prevention and control measures and an overall increase complexity of presenting need.
