Mr. R?n?n Hession:

The Leas-Chathaoirleach is right to be cautious about the comparability. There is also the extent to which the statistics capture information. A person might not be on disability allowance because they failed a means test. This does not mean they do not have a disability. There could be other issues. For example, the most recent results from the census state 1.1 million people have a long-lasting condition which has lasted for longer than a year. This returned a much higher figure than the previous definition of disability, which was closer to 630,000 people. There is a demographic effect but there is also the definition-----