Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, the Minister is aware of the issue. I say, "Well done", to the Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland, MEAI, among others, for campaigning on this. However, it is worth saying, on the task force that was looking into the basic income project, there was no representative of people with disabilities and we need to be absolutely certain that there is not a disincentive for people with disabilities to sign up for the basic income pilot. Certainly, on the calculations the MEAI has done, there is potential for them to lose in some cases the medical card and for a failure to take into account that people with disability carry additional costs to those who do not have disabilities. An Indecon report recently estimated there is €10,000 a year additional costs if one has a disability. Whereas somebody who does not have a disability will get 100% of the benefit of everything over previous social welfare basic payments, the people with disability could see much of that additional money eaten up by what they lose when they take up the payment.

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