Written Answers Nos. 718-737
718. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when she intends for pay transparency for salaries on job advertisements to be introduced; if she expects for this to be in place by 1 June 2026; whether this can be requested of employers prior to legal imposition; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16208/26]
View answerThe Pay Transparency Directive (officially known as Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms) came into force in June 2023. Member States must have it transposed into national law by 7 June 2026. EU companies will be required to share information about how much they pay women and men for work of equal value and to act if their gender pay gap exceeds 5%.
Ireland's Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 transposed a large portion of the Directive, particularly in relation to Article 9 on Gender Pay Gap Reporting. The implementation of this Act and associated regulations require employers to report their gender pay gap each year, and the measures that are being taken to eliminate or reduce the gap.
Department officials are currently developing the legislation necessary to transpose the remaining elements of this Directive into Irish law. This Directive is crucial to empower workers, and especially women, to enforce their right to equal pay through a set of binding measures on pay transparency, to strengthen the transparency of pay systems, to improve public understanding of the relevant legal concepts, and to enhance enforcement of the rights and obligations relating to equal pay.
Transposition of the Directive will make it mandatory for employers to provide information on salaries in job advertisements.
The Department is aware of the need to ensure that employers are aware of their obligations under the Directive. There will be opportunities in the near future for stakeholders, particularly employers, to engage with the Department on issues such as available supports, as we move into the next phases of the transposition process.
719. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her attention has been drawn to the campaign organised on behalf of people suffering from a condition called Fragile X Syndrome and other intellectual disabilities called the Before I Die campaign; if she proposes to meet with this organisation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16226/26]
View answer722. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update regarding work ongoing to support people with intellectual disabilities when their parents have passed away or are otherwise unable to meet their care needs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16230/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 719 and 722 together.
I recognise the concerns raised by the members of the Before We Die Campaign and greatly value the voices of family carers and the insight they provide. I recently met the campaign group, along with Department officials to discuss their campaign and advocate for their children's futures, as well as the need for more support to be provided to family carers in order for them to continue to be able to carry out this vital work.
This Government acknowledges the ongoing work of the Before We Die group, in advocating for increases in the provision of residential services for people with disabilities and to bring awareness to the issues many of the parents involved are facing.
I also wish to recognise the vital work carried out by family carers of people with disabilities and recognise the importance of the voice of the person with the disability and that they may have certain wishes about their own future.
The 2025 Programme for Government commits to advance the rights and improve the lives of people with disabilities and includes commitments to develop a multi-year capital plan for investment in residential and independent living options for both adults and children, and to tackle waiting lists for specialist disability services by implementation of the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-6, and resourcing and delivering on its targets.
The Programme for Government recognises the requirement for a whole-of-government approach to advance the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
In 2025, this Government published the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030.
The Department of Children, Disability and Equality and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, will work in collaboration with a number of other Departments and agencies including the HSE and Local Authorities, to advance Pillar 3 of the Strategy, which outlines a collective approach to provide a clear pathway for disabled people to access the supports they require to live independently and address societal barriers that impact on their daily lives.
The work undertaken in line with this strategy will support a move to a more planned approach to providing residential supports to people with disabilities.
There are currently a number of supports available to assist ageing parents in supporting their adult children with disabilities. These supports include day services, respite services, home support services, personal assistance and residential supports.
These supports are aimed at enabling people with disabilities to remain in their family homes for as long as they and their families wish. However, the Department acknowledges that in many cases, a person with an intellectual disability will require full-time residential care once their main carers are no longer in a position to provide the necessary supports.
The Department of Children, Disability and Equality, alongside the HSE, is continuing to work to increase provision in order to assist those who are most vulnerable in our society, and who urgently require services.
Some people with disabilities require appropriate housing provided by their local authority with supports provided by the HSE, while others require a specialist disability residential service provided by the HSE or a contracted service provider.
The Department of Children, Disability and Equality provides funding to the Health Service Executive (HSE), which is responsible for service matters related to Specialist Disability Support Services including disability residential services.
Specialist disability services focus on providing supports to people with more complex disabilities, and to complement the mainstream health and social care services provided to people with disabilities alongside the rest of the population.
The HSE, together with approximately 90 service providers are currently providing 8,911 specialist disability residential places to people with disabilities. From 2020 to 2025, 955 new residential places have been provided to people with disabilities, including 246 places provided in 2025.
As the Deputy may be aware, Budget 2026 provided funding of approximately €3.9 billion to Specialist Disability Services.
In addition to funding ongoing residential placements for almost 9000 current residents, €65m has been allocated to Disability Residential Services in 2026 for new developments, which includes €40m of funding that will provide a minimum of 199 residential responses.
This includes 72 new planned placements and 80 new unplanned, urgent placements, a total of 152 new placements, as outlined in the HSE’s National Service Plan for 2026, which includes details of a move towards a more planned and responsive system of service provision and an increased emphasis on longer term planning for residential placements, with strengthened operational processes being put in place to respond to the current high demand. It will also support new residents in existing placements that have become vacant and require enhancement and in limited circumstances, placements in nursing home settings.
Generally, the majority of people with disabilities who receive new residential placements are currently living with their parent(s) or carer(s) and it should be expected that a number of the new planned places and unplanned urgent places funded in 2026, will be provided to people with disabilities, living with older parents.
To support people with disabilities and their families/carer(s), the 2026 Budget also includes €25million for new developments in respect of respite supports. The HSE’s 2026 National Service plan outlines expected delivery of an additional 10,000 overnight and 25,000-day sessions to include after-school, weekend and holiday programmes. This reflects an expected 6% increase in service delivery on 2025.
In 2026, €12.09m has been provided in order to increase the provision of Home support and Personal assistance hours for people with disabilities.
Funding for these measures will help to assist people with disabilities who have ageing parents and require supports in order to have more independence in the daily lives of their choosing.
720. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on any engagement she has had with the HSE in relation to treatment for people suffering from a condition called Fragile X Syndrome; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16228/26]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly as soon as possible.
721. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update regarding the implementation of the recommendations in the Disability Action Plan 2024-2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16229/26]
View answerThe Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026 represents the first phase of implementing the recommendations of the Disability Capacity Review to 2032. It sets out a range of actions designed to provide better access to disability services. It intends to maximise the impact of service delivery through strategic change and to enable better planning and management through improved information and systems.
The Action Plan targets are reliant on a variety of dependencies to enable their delivery, such as funding, workforce, capacity at an organisational level within service providers. Progress achieved under the Action Plan is documented in progress reports, which are published on my Department's website and can be accessed at the link below.
www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/publications/action-plan-for-disability-services-2024-2026-publications/.
723. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to address issues raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16254/26]
View answerThe Department is fully committed to promoting affordability for parents through Core Funding. One of the primary vehicles through which this is delivered is Core Funding, a a supply-side grant to early learning and childcare providers towards their operating costs. The Scheme is designed to promote affordability for parents and sustainability and stability for providers through increased funding to the sector.
When first introduced in 2022, Core Funding had an annual allocation of €259 million; €210.8 million of which was entirely new funding to the sector. That annual allocation has increased each year since and has exceeded €390 million for the current fourth year of the Scheme. This represents an increase of over 50% in Core Funding in three years.
The Department announced further investment in Core Funding in Budget 2026. The additional funding will see the allocation for Core Funding in the next programme year which begins in September 2026 increase to over €480 million. That is an additional €87.6 million on the current full year allocation, or a 22% increase.
A key condition of receiving the significant State funding that is available through the Scheme requires that a Partner Service adhere to the Core Funding fee management system, which includes a freeze on fees at 2021 levels and fee caps. This is to ensure that the State’s significant investment through the Scheme is not absorbed by unnecessary fee increases.
In addition to the year on year increases in the Core Funding allocation, the Department has made changes to improve the sustainability of providers through, for example, targeted measures for small and sessional services, and a fee increase assessment and approval process for services with fees frozen at unsustainably low rates.
The 2025/2026 Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement allows for the recommencement of a further Fee Increase Assessment-type exercise. The details of this undertaking are being developed by the Department and will be made available once finalised.
The Department is conscious of the importance of promoting affordability for parents without compromising the viability of businesses in the sector, and appropriate safeguards are carefully considered during planning for new developments.
The allocation for Core Funding’s fifth programme year will include €20.6m in brand new full-year funding to support services to maintain fee management conditions, such as the fee freeze and new maximum fee caps supporting affordability for parents. This will guarantee that Core Funding’s monetary protections will continue to be passed on to families while ensuring sustainability and stability for the sector.
Full details of Core Funding programme year 2026/2027 will be made available to the sector later this year.
Partner Services facing sustainability concerns can also avail of supports through the Department’s established case management process, through which local City and County Childcare Committees and Pobal work together to assess and provide support including financial support to services experiencing difficulties.
All services are encouraged to avail of these supports if they are facing difficulties with the sustainability of their business. Contact details for the CCCs can be found at the City and County Childcare Committees page on gov.ie.
724. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will make appropriate funding available for school-age childcare with additional needs, as currently there is funding available for preschool-age children through the AIM and AIM Plus programmes, subsidising up to 30-hours-per-week, but once a child transitions to primary school, this funding completely ceases, despite their care needs remaining the same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16258/26]
View answerThe Access and Inclusion Model or AIM is a programme of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities or additional needs can access the Early Childhood Care and Education or ECCE programme. The goal of AIM is to empower early learning and care providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of quality early learning and care in any mainstream service participating in ECCE.
A core feature and strength of AIM is that it does not require a diagnosis. Instead, resources are allocated based on a child’s individual needs.
Officials in the Department will be engaging in a comprehensive policy development process during 2026 to extend AIM to children aged under three in future years, which will be underpinned by consultations with key stakeholders.
It is also intended to give consideration at a later date to an extension of AIM for children attending school-age childcare (SAC).
It is critical that both of these policy responses are strongly evidence-based and reflective of the needs of children. This requires tailoring of AIM and differentiation of approaches for each age cohort. Funding will also be required through the annual budget process.
725. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to parliamentary Question No. 117 on 19 February 2026, if she will engage with the Minister for Finance regarding supports for families employing a childminder explicitly within the family home through the tax credit system as an interim measure before the extension of the NCS to childminding, in light of complexities (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16325/26]
View answerTax credits are a matter for the Minister for Finance.
The Childcare Support Act 2018, which provides the statutory basis for the National Childcare Scheme, specifies that the Scheme is only open to Tusla-registered providers. This ensures that public funding is provided where there is assurance of the quality of provision.
The National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 set out a pathway for the extension of regulation to childminders. As a result of the commencement of the relevant parts of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2024 and the Childminding Services Regulations, which came into effect on 30 September 2024, childminders are now able to apply to register with Tusla and thereafter take part in the National Childcare Scheme.
Under the amendments made in the 2024 Act, the definition of a childminding service:
"(a) entails an individual taking care, by himself or herself, of children under the age of 15 years, in the home of the individual, and
(b) is provided to children (other than that individual’s own children) for a total period of not less than 2 hours per day."
The regulation of childminding services is critical to the safeguarding of children. The route to registration under the new regulations requires childminders to undertake pre-registration training, as well as meeting certain regulatory requirements including Garda vetting, proof of insurance, first aid certification and child safeguarding training. The Childminding Services Regulations place a number of requirements on the childminder's home.
While the Department has successfully completed Phase 1 of the National Action Plan, considerable challenges lie ahead during Phase 2 in supporting the large number of unregistered childminders to register with Tusla and take part in the National Childcare Scheme before the end of the transition period in September 2027. Given the scale of the challenge that still remains, my priority is to deliver on the remaining phases of the National Action Plan in the coming years.
The Department has committed to undertake a review of the initial implementation of the Childminding-specific Regulations during the transition period. The review will commence in 2026 and will include consultation with childminders and other stakeholders. Following conclusion of this review, I will give consideration to the appropriate next steps.
On the particular issue of tax credits, I would like to advise the Deputy that tax credits have previously been considered in the context of work by the Department to reduce the cost of early learning and childcare to parents.
Research by an Inter-Departmental Group back in 2016 showed that supply-side measures (such as subsidies paid directly to providers to reduce fees to parents), rather than demand-side measures (such as tax credits to parents), represented the most effective use of Exchequer investment. This conclusion was based on international experience and on the ability to leverage quality and control fees for parents through supply-side measures.
“Demand side measures” (i.e. funding directly to parents to reduce their fees, potentially including taxation based measures such as tax credits/deductions) and “supply side measures” (i.e. funding directly to providers to assist in the meeting the cost of provision and/or to reduce parents fees) were also explored in the context of the development of National Childcare Scheme (NCS).
The 2016 policy paper, which informed the subsequent development of the NCS, concluded that supply-side measures offer the State greater “steering capacity" in terms of ensuring equity of access and driving quality in early learning and childcare service. This is because a well-designed supply-side measures offers the State several policy levers (e.g. subsidy levels linked to quality, conditions for provider participation, regulation of co-payments etc.) through which policy objectives can be pursued.
More recently, the independent Expert Group convened to develop a new funding model for early learning and childcare considered tax deductions/credits as part of their work. In their 2021 report, ‘Partnership for the Public Good’, the Expert Group concluded that ‘there are downsides to channelling any of the promised additional investment into tax deductions/credits as a purely demand-side subsidy. They cannot be used to leverage quality in the same way that payments directly to providers can. It is clear from our Terms of Reference that the new funding model should operate with the NCS and the ECCE programme. To recommend further demand-led funding, like tax credits, would increase the scale of demand-side funding of the sector and would not help to guide the sector towards a more publicly managed service, where policy levers can be used to support quality, affordability, availability, access, and sustainability. Additionally, lower-income families would not benefit as much from tax deductions/credits as those with higher incomes”.
726. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason a child (details supplied) referred to CDNT4 in 2022 and identified in March 2024 as requiring speech and language therapy has not yet received intervention; the steps that will be taken to ensure that this child is urgently assessed and provided with appropriate speech and language therapy supports; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16332/26]
View answerAs this question refers to the service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
727. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if urgent assistance can be provided to a family in County Kerry (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16349/26]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
728. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to urgently arrange the necessary services required by a child (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16363/26]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly.
729. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when St. Joseph’s Baby Home in Stamullen, County Meath and Temple Hill Hospital in Blackrock, County Dublin will be added to Schedule 1 of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023; and if she will consider expanding the scheme to cover all who spent time in mother and baby institutions. [16365/26]
View answerI note the judgement by Mr. Justice Owens of the High Court on 16th February in respect of two Judicial Review applications concerning Temple Hill, Blackrock and St. Joseph's Stamullen, and am carefully considering its implications.
The judgement does not direct the inclusion of any institution in the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme, rather it provides some guidance in interpreting the assessment criteria for the addition of institutions into the Scheme.
The Payment Scheme currently provides payments and health benefits to people who spent time in any of the Mother and Baby or County Home Institutions that were identified by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation as having a main function of providing sheltered and supervised ante and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children. The institutions covered by the Payment Scheme are set out in Schedule 1 to the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023.
The Government recognises that there are people who suffered stigma, trauma and abuse in other institutions. If it were to come to light that an institution, in which the State had a regulatory or inspection function, fulfilled a similar function with regard to single women and their children as those included in the Payment Scheme, section 49 of the Act provides that the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, may insert an additional institution into the Schedule.
It should be noted that the Payment Scheme is just one of a large suite of actions being undertaken to respond to the legacy of these institutions under the Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. Of the seven major commitments set out in the Action Plan, six are now delivered and in place, while the seventh is well underway. Key actions include access to birth information, the services of the Special Advocate and counselling support, all already in place, as well as the ongoing development of a National Centre for Research and Remembrance.
730. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will consider conducting a review into the administration of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme; and if so, if she will engage with survivors on their experience of the redress scheme. [16366/26]
View answerThe Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme opened for applications in March 2024.
The underpinning legislation for the Scheme provides for a number of reports and reviews to be produced. Section 48 of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act provides for two reviews of the operation of the Scheme, the first of which must commence within 6 months of the second anniversary of its establishment, i.e. by September 2026.
The scope of the review is prescribed in the Act. It is largely operational in focus and will consider issues such as the level of uptake of the Scheme, the experience of applicants, the extent to which payments have been made and if the Scheme is achieving its purpose. I may also consider any other matter relevant to the administration of the Scheme.
While the review has not yet commenced, initial preparatory work for it is already underway.
731. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if an action (details supplied) contained in the 2025 HIQA Child Protection and Welfare Inspection Report for Tusla Dublin north city can be reviewed in terms of the potential consequences of a staff member in Tusla who is not qualified; what this means for oversight and management in this Tusla division; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16370/26]
View answer732. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware of a complaint made by a parent (details supplied) following the actions of an unqualified person in Tusla in dealing with a vulnerable child; the actions that will be taken to ensure this never happens again; if she is assured of the structural changes being made by Tusla which will see non-qualified staff to undertake social worker duties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16371/26]
View answer733. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her views on whether suggestions that the changes being made internally by Tusla in relation to staffing and structures will see non-qualified staff members undertaking social worker duties; the basis for this suggestion that is coming from professionals (details supplied); the way in which she will ensure this does not happen; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16375/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 731, 732 and 733 together.
Tusla was established as the national agency tasked with the provision of child protection and welfare services, and for supporting children and families in the State. Tusla is required by law to be independent in its functions and day to day operations. It would not be appropriate for the Department to comment on individual cases.
There are challenges around the current level of social work vacancies in Tusla and challenges in recruiting sufficient numbers of social workers into Tusla. There are two significant matters contributing to this situation, the inadequate supply of Social Workers to meet current demands within the agency and staff retention. The Department is aware of, and concerned by, the difficulties that many employers, including Tusla, have faced in recruiting and retaining social workers. While there are many initiatives underway to seek to address these challenges, it has proven difficult to increase social work staffing levels in line with national demand in recent years. Despite these recruitment challenges, Tusla has achieved a national increase of 4% in social work employment levels between Oct 2024 and Oct 2025. This equates to an additional 69 whole time equivalent social work staff, in place across Tusla over that time period last year.
The Department issued as part of its Performance Framework for 2024-2026 to Tusla, a list of priorities for Tusla including the retention of social workers.
Following Budget 2026, Tusla’s overall funding now stands at €1.371bn, an increase of 14% over its budget in 2025. This money will ensure that Tusla can continue to manage over 100,000 referrals annually. This investment supports Tusla’s multi-pronged, sustained strategy to address the recruitment and retention of child protection staff. Some key actions include:
• International Recruitment: The Social Worker grade was added to the Critical Skills Occupation List in 2023.
• Expanding Domestic Supply: University College Cork introduced two new pathways into social work in 2024, expected to increase annual graduate output by 20%.
• Promoting the Profession: A national "Social Work Changes Lives" media campaign was launched in 2025.
• Career Development: A Health & Social Care Career Pathway scheme has been sanctioned in Tusla to support career progression.
• Enhanced Salaries: A new Special Care Worker grade with an enhanced salary has been created to attract and retain Social Care Workers in Tusla’s Special Care services.
• Continued coordination by Tusla occurs with relevant departments and employers through forums like the Social Work All Employers Forum.
• Budget 2026 includes funding for innovative “earn and learn” social work and social care work apprenticeship courses programmes and sponsorship. University College Cork introduced two new pathways into social work in 2024, which is expected to increase annual graduate output by 20%.
• In relating to the difficulties in recruiting additional social workers, there is a commitment in the programme for Government to double the number of college places for social workers. The Government approved an expansion in training places for a range of health and social care professionals. This will provide up to 361 additional student places by 2028, including college places for social workers.
In January this year, Tusla began implementing its Integrated Reform Programme which will promote equity in service availability. Regions and Areas will be more equitable, with more consistent structures and spans of control, and an open and transparent approach to more equitable resource allocation (internal and external). Tusla is moving from 17 Areas in 6 regions to 30 Areas/Networks in 6 Regions. This will lead to a far more equitable distribution of children across Areas/Networks, Staff will work as part of multidisciplinary teams, to ensure a range of professionals with different skills are available to respond to the needs of children, young people and families in the right way at the right time.
Reflecting an ongoing changing environment and social work vacancies, Tusla has moved to a more multi-disciplinary way of working with children now allocated to social workers and other professional grades where necessary and appropriate to ensure they have the support of a key worker. All children continue to be overseen by social work management. It is important to note that while cases can be allocated to other professionals, these cases are still overseen by Social Workers.
Tusla endeavours to ensure that all children and families who are assessed as needing a child protection and welfare service and all children in care have an allocated worker in line with an allocation framework. Tusla has a robust Standard Operational Procedure in place in the area to manage unallocated cases. The Standard Operational Procedure implements regular reviews of unallocated cases, with allocations being made by priority. There are also regular audits to ensure that the Standard Operational Procedure is being followed and adhered to.
This HIQA Inspection referred to was carried out between 24th June – 30th June 2025. The inspection was a monitoring inspection of Dublin North Child Protection and Welfare service to assess the progress made in relation to the actions identified to address non-compliances during the previous inspection in May 2024. The inspection identified significant system risks previously escalated to the Tusla Regional Chief Officer following the April 2024 inspection had not been addressed and required escalation to the National Office following this inspection. There are actions outlined in the Compliance plan to address the issues identified in this inspection and implementation is ongoing. The HIQA findings were escalated within the Department.
Tusla has in place processes and policies through which feedback or complaints can be raised with Tusla in relation to any aspect of its work. Details are available online at www.tusla.ie/about/feedback-and-complaints.
734. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the status of speech and language assessment for a child (details supplied). [16378/26]
View answerAs this question refers to the service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
735. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her attention has been drawn to concerns related to the continuation of the South Traveller Action Group; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16387/26]
View answer736. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will engage with the South Traveller Action Group (STAG) in relation to concerns for the viability of the organisation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16388/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 735 and 736 together.
The Board of the Southside Travellers Organisation (STAG) informed the public funders of the organisation, including the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, on 17 February 2026 that, following an emergency meeting of the Board and Members, a resolution had been passed to place the Company into voluntary liquidation on the grounds of insolvency.
This was a deeply regrettable development as for over 40 years, the organisation had played an important role in supporting members of the Traveller community and advocating for equality, inclusion and improved outcomes in areas such as accommodation support, education, training and employment, and Traveller healthcare and youth services to local Traveller families.
The main public funding organisations are the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board and the Department of Social Protection, with an allocation also coming from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to support and enable front line service delivery.
The Department of Children, Equality and Disability has contributed to State funding and supports to assist the organisation in delivering vital services for many years. However, over a period of time governance and financial challenges have been the focus of concern and attention for all State funders. Notwithstanding these concerns, and to ensure that the organisation could continue to provide services, all funders continued to make funding available while allowing the identified issues to be addressed.
All of the funders of the organisation have a responsibility to ensure that public funds are used appropriately, transparently and in line with good governance standards. The effective stewardship of public resources is essential not only for accountability, but also to maintain public trust and to safeguard the continuity of services for vulnerable communities. It was for that reason that the public funders commissioned an independent finance and governance review of the company, which commenced in mid-October 2025. That review has not been completed as at the time of the Board’s announcement.
The Department of Children, Equality and Disability acknowledges the staff, volunteers and community members who worked with commitment and dedication over many years to advance the rights and wellbeing of Travellers in the local area concerned. Their efforts, often in challenging circumstances, have made a difference to many lives.
Each of the State funders will assess the implications of the Board’s decision and will be conscious of the need to ensure services are delivered to the community. It is vital that services and advocacy supports remain accessible and that the needs of the Traveller community continue to be prioritised and met.
737. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the status of Ireland's progress and performance in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of people with Disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16451/26]
View answerThis Government is committed to supporting people with disabilities through the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (known as the UNCRPD).
Irelands first report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was published in November 2021 and described what Ireland is doing to protect and enhance the rights of people with disabilities. Ireland is due before the UN Committee to report on its implementation of the UNCRPD. This report will be reviewed by the UN Committee and Ireland is currently awaiting a date for that review.
The Committee has prepared a list of issues in relation to Ireland’s report and a written response to those is due by the end of July 2026. This report is being coordinated by this Department.
UNCRPD also requires each state to establish an Independent Monitoring Mechanism to promote, protect and monitor the implementation of the Convention. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) performs this role in Ireland.
While the Department operates as the mandated "coordination mechanism" for the UNCRPD in Ireland, Government is committed to the mainstream-first approach to policy that is promoted by the Convention, meaning that it is incumbent on every public body to deliver their services in a fashion that is inclusive of the needs of disabled people.
The National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, launched last year, sets out a whole of government approach to disability over the next five years that advances further implementation of UNCRPD. It constitutes an overarching framework for delivering a step-change in the provision of disability services across several policy areas.
The Strategy is advancing the delivery on actions across five key thematic pillars that collectively capture the full range of issues impacting on the lives of disabled people:
• Inclusive Learning and Education.
• Employment.
• Independent Living and Active Participation in Society.
• Wellbeing and Health.
• Transport and Mobility.
In keeping with the whole-of-government approach set out in the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, I look forward to working with colleagues across government in ensuring that the priority actions that fall under the remit of responsible government departments and public bodies will be delivered in the manner set out in the First Programme Plan of Action 2025-2026 (https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/0f74f208/National_Human_Rights_Strategy_for_Disabled_People_-_First_Programme_Plan_of_Action_2025-2026_PDF.pdf).
