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

Members of the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, including staff and wheelchair users, were protesting outside today. They may still be there. I strongly urge the Taoiseach to look at its pre-budget submission. All of the wheelchair users I spoke said they feel abandoned and they are not getting the income supports they need to deal with the additional costs of disability, which the Department itself has acknowledged amount to between €9,000 and €11,000. The lack of funding for properly adapted accommodation or housing for people with disabilities was also mentioned but one of the key issues they asked about was pay parity for personal assistants, the section 39 workers. They stated that the Taoiseach had personally said the money would be made available to give pay parity to personal assistants. Without that, there is a drain of those personal assistants out of the IWA, which then impacts on services for wheelchair users. Will the Taoiseach honour his commitment?

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