Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am committed to improving outcomes for people with a disability. I announced a number of measures to support them in budget 2024, including a €400 lump-sum payment in November, a Christmas bonus double payment in December, a cost-of-living bonus payment in January and a €12 increase in the maximum personal rate of weekly disability payments. The free travel scheme is being extended to people who are medically unfit to drive. In addition, the Taoiseach has placed a major emphasis on improving supports and services for people with disabilities in all aspects of their lives. He has established a special Cabinet committee on children, education and disability. The new Cabinet committee will provide for a whole-of-government approach to addressing the issues facing people with disabilities and their families.

The Indecon report on the cost of disability identified that additional costs of disability run across many areas of expenditure, including housing, transport, health and education. The report found there is a spectrum from low to high additional costs of disability, depending on individual circumstances. The report concluded, following extensive consultation, that extra disability payments should be targeted at those most in need and who face the greatest additional cost of disability, rather than spreading resources thinly. That was the rationale for the Green Paper consultation. The objective was to elicit views on making higher rates of payment available to people with more profound disabilities. Based on the feedback I received, I decided not to proceed with the recommendations set out in the Green Paper. Instead, the issue is being referred for inclusion in the programme of work of the new Cabinet committee on disability matters established by the Taoiseach.

Under the auspices of that committee, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is in the process of developing, together with the input of disabled people and their representative organisations, the next national disability strategy, which is hoped to be delivered later this year. This new strategy will address a number of matters related to the cost of disability and will co-ordinate the continued implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, in Ireland. My Department continues to engage with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth on the matter.

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