Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let us go back to the cohort I spoke about, who are so disabled that this talk of getting employment just does not arise. I have come across cases where a parent dies and leaves, say, €100,000 to an adult child who has been disabled since birth. In that case the disability allowance payment dropped from €203 to €53 per week. If the parents leave €110,000 it reduces the payment to €13 a week. If parents die and a family home is sold, if they left €120,000, then the person with a disability would be entitled to no disability allowance. We have to remember that these thresholds are way beneath the inheritance tax threshold. For this very vulnerable group where parents make a huge effort to leave them something, is the Minister willing to look at it again? I am talking about people who have always been disabled and will never have an opportunity to make a social contribution in terms of getting an invalidity pension.

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