Strategy: Significant extra investment in disability services is urgently required, the Department of Health and Children has said, writes Mark Hennessy.
The demand for extra resources formed a key element of the Department's own commitments included in its sectoral plan.
However, the majority of the commitments included in the plans produced by five departments have already been announced by the Government.
Besides Health and Children, sectoral plans have been produced by Communications, Marine and Natural Resources; Environment, Heritage and Local Government; Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Social and Family Affairs.
Despite the money spent on the health service since 1997, the Department of Health said: "There are still many serious challenges to be met in delivering appropriate levels of support for people with disabilities."
Efforts to maximise access to existing services and assessment will be made, along with transparent rules to govern waiting times and qualifying criteria.
The disabled's rising longevity, coupled with improved obstetric and paediatric care in the 1960s and 1970s, mean there is an ongoing need for residential places. The numbers of moderately, severely and profoundly intellectually disabled people aged over 35 has increased every year since 1996.
In 1981, just 27 per cent of these were aged over 35. In 2002, this figure had jumped to 45 per cent. The changes would have "major implications" for the health services, said the Department.
Greater pressure on residential places will be felt, while day-care services will also be under strain from coping with disabled school-leavers and older patients.
Meanwhile, the Department of Social and Family Affairs outlined four objectives, including encouraging disabled social welfare recipients to take up work.
The rules governing sickness and disability payments are also to be reviewed, "to ensure that they are appropriate to the needs of customers in a changing labour market".
Pilot job programmes are to be run for 16-25-year-olds qualifying for long-term disability payments, while the Back to Work Allowance will also be reviewed.
Meanwhile, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment's main targets are to help the disabled to find employment and to encourage employers to hire them. "Employment offers the best means for them to participate fully in the social, cultural and economic life of the country," the Department said.
FÁS is to produce a new strategy in 2005, following the completion of a major review of vocational training courses for the disabled.
The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources said passenger services from all ferry ports will be completely accessible to the disabled by December 2005.
New guidance has been given to local authorities to ensure their March 2005 review of housing needs properly examines the needs of the disabled.