Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We held a briefing session on Tuesday of last week for Oireachtas Members, where we invited all Senators and Deputies to come and meet the officials in the audio visual, AV, room to discuss their concerns. The officials of my Department did that last week. We are willing to answer questions.

There is an acknowledgement that there is extra expense on people with disabilities. I believe what we should be doing is providing services for those with disabilities as opposed to a €5 differentiation in their weekly payment compared to what other people receive. The State has gone some way to doing that but there is a long journey to travel on that road. If there were extra money, I believe that is where the money should be spent, as opposed to increasing a weekly payment. The Senator is aware that the structure grant that was given is under consideration in the Department but there are other services that are provided through the Departments of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Health, Education and Skills and are all part of the discussions that are ongoing on budgetary constraints. I believe that rather than differentiating between the weekly payments, that it is the services we should be providing for those with disabilities that recognise there is an extra cost to people who have a disability over and above those who are on jobseeker's or on illness benefits.