The leader of the Social Democrats has criticised the allocation of money for disability services in Budget 2024.
It follows clarification around the distribution of money for such services, which was initially announced in the Dáil on Tuesday by the Minister for Public Expenditure as €64 million.
However at a departmental press briefing a short time later, Minister with Responsibility for Disability, Anne Rabbitte, announced €195.1m in additional funding for disability services.
Later on RTÉ's Prime Time, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath was challenged by Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty when the minister stated that the Government had provided an increase of around €200m in disability funding for next year, compared to 2023.
On Wednesday evening, the department clarified that €131m was for 'Existing Level of Service' including the full year cost of 2023 New Development Measures.
The €64.1m which Minister Paschal Donohoe referenced, according to the department, was for '2024 New Development Measures'.
When asked for a breakdown of where the money will go, the department said €20.5m will go towards residential placements for children and adults; €10m will be provided for respite; €18.2m to Day Services/School Leavers; €8.5m to Children's Services and €6.9m will go towards "other initiatives" including PA Hours and Neurological Community Supports.
In addition, it said that €18m in non-core funding was provided to address service pressures that arose during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a post on X, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said that the €64m figure was "unbelievable"
This is unbelievable.
— Holly Cairns TD (@HollyCairnsTD) October 12, 2023
I thought the €64 million additional funding for disability services in the budget had to be a typo, it was so low.
Then the Minister said it was actually €195m.
But it turns out it is just €64m.
The €195m figure includes existing expenditure. https://t.co/dSv1ietiXQ
