Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for introducing this motion. Regardless of who can claim the credit, and I know many different people have been lobbying on the matter, I am very pleased to see that the Green Paper on Disability Reform has been pulled, as it were. The Minister said it was just a consultation paper and while I accept her bona fides, I hope lessons will be learned from what has happened in the meantime and that the substantive issues and concerns that were raised will be dealt with. A very important part of that will be full consultation with people who have a disability and ensuring that the ableist and discriminatory obstacles that were put in place are removed from any future Green Paper.

The Green Paper had, at its core, a proposal to categorise disabled people for the purposes of allocating social welfare payments. This enshrined in the Green Paper the possibility - indeed, the probability - of discrimination between different people who have a disability. It would have them competing with one another for resources. That is simply not acceptable. It was dangerous and morally degrading because the objective seem to be to reduce costs rather than supporting disabled people to work. Given that we have the lowest rate of employment among disabled people and given the additional cost of living with disability, the Green Paper would have been a disaster.

This motion is aptly entitled "disability justice", and I support its asks. There may be some nuances around the means testing for certain payments but I fully support having no means testing for the carer's allowance, whether that is called carer's allowance or a guaranteed living wage. You do not get carer's allowance unless you care full-time for a person who needs full-time care. Therefore, your payment cannot be dependent on the household income. That completely undervalues the work of carers. It is discriminatory, very often against women, and that has to change.

I fully support the introduction of payments to cover the cost of disability. The Department of Social Protection published a paper titled, The Cost of Disability in Ireland, which, when we account for recent inflation, showed that it costs between €10,000 and €14,000 extra per year simply to cover the cost of disability. It is urgent that the next budget introduce a cost-of-living or equity payment to help cover these extra costs. We also need to be aware that the employment and wage subsidy scheme for disabled people is the lowest in Europe. It is medicalised and asks a disabled person to sign a piece of paper to say they are 20% less productive than their non-disabled colleagues. This scheme is flawed and sends the wrong message. We should be trying to support disabled people into employment and in all cases, supports should follow the person.

There is no legal right to personal assistance in this State. The Government needs to prioritise investment in personal assistance. Again, the next budget should invest in personal assistance rather than residential care or services that continually segregate people with disabilities.

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