Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

As part of the work of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Autism, we had a number of presentations on the cost of disability to families. One of the most recent reports I have seen shows there is an additional €30,000 per annum cost for a family with a disability or a loved one with a disability. That is obviously substantial and causes hardship. A lot of that hardship is ongoing. The Minister mentioned temporary payments in the context of how they mask what is really going on behind the doors of those families who are scraping to get by to pay for their loved ones, heating and everything else they must pay. Can the Minister provide a timeframe? While he said he would commit to this throughout the lifetime of this Government, can we get some more dates as to when we can actually see a cost of that?

The services he mentioned are very important for families. If they do not get the additional payments, which we are being told will not come in the next budget, we are going to see a lot of families scraping by. They will be in a lot of trouble come the winter months in particular with the cost of disability as it stands at the moment.

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