Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will come back to the issue of lone parents. The Minister mentioned various measures which are in place for adults with a disability. Those measures have been in place for some time and they were certainly in place in 2015, when consistent poverty among adults with a disability rose from 14% to 22%. As the Minister indicated in her reply, it has increased again in 2015 and 2016 to 26% or 27%. Obviously, the measures in place are not working and the gap is growing. I scrutinised the budget speech and there was no reference at all to disability and the poverty gap. Has the Government specific proposals and, while a number of Departments are involved, is the Minister considering any specific initiatives within her own Department to help stop this gap from widening further?

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