Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges:

— the additional costs disabled people face in their day to day lives;

— an Indecon report, commissioned by Government back in 2021 confirmed the cost of disability, estimating it to be on average between €9,482 and €11,734 per annum;

— this was not the first report showing a cost of disability; and

— an Economic and Social Research Institute study from this year showing that households with a disabled member face significant financial burdens and are at very high risk of poverty;

condemns:

— the Government and previous Governments for failing to introduce a permanent Cost of Disability payment, despite acknowledging the additional costs involved; and

— Budget 2026 for failing citizens with disabilities; and

calls on Government to:

— develop and introduce a Cost of Disability Payment;

— increase the Disability Allowance and other weekly disability-contingent social welfare payments by €20 from January 1st as an interim measure to begin to recognise the additional costs of disability; and

— deliver a lump sum payment to people with disabilities this month to provide immediate recognition of these additional costs.

While I welcome that the Government is not opposing this motion, it would of course be much better if it were supporting it. It would be better still if it put some meaningful supports in place for people with disabilities.

We are here today because the budget announced last week condemns people with disabilities and their households to poverty. That is a fact. If the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, talks to people with disabilities, that is what they will tell them. The Government is showing its true colours and nobody is forcing its hand. Against all expert policy advice, it has chosen to cut the cost-of-disability supports to the value of over €1,000 per person this year. On top of this, it has decided it is not worthwhile to keep the real value of the disability allowance in line with inflation. It seems the Minister of State forgets people with disabilities shop in the same shops that he and I shop in. The prices go up for the disabled in the same as they go up for us. The only difference is that when those with disabilities go back to their bank accounts, there is no money in them to meet the rising cost of living. The disability allowance, modest as it is, will have less purchasing power now than it did five years ago, and all of this is happening while there is a surplus in the order of billions of euro. The fuel allowance, on which so many households with disabled members rely, has seen but half the increase needed just to keep up with inflation. It is nowhere near its original value, the value it had in 2020.

This is one of the cruellest budgets we have seen in a long time, and it has rightly been dubbed by Social Justice Ireland as a recipe for austerity. Profiteering, which we know is at the heart of the energy industry, has never been worse in the history of the State. Now is the time the State should step in with a cost-of-living package. However, it is a matter of make do and mend for disabled people and an endless tap of cash turned on for landlords and developers.

People with disabilities have, under successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, been forced to cede their independence, become increasingly dependent on their families for support and to infantilise themselves because they simply cannot live an independent life. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made it as difficult as possible for disabled people to maintain the financial independence necessary to live in dignity. The Government’s budget will make it worse. Ordinary people, disability rights activists and the people here in the Gallery watching this debate know it does not have to be this way. They heard the budget announcement and are confounded by how the Government could withhold such crucial supports while narrowing the fiscal base and granting tax breaks to property developers.

We needed to see energy credits, a significant lump-sum payment and increases to the disability allowance and other disability payments, in addition to an increase to the fuel allowance - at a minimum, in advance of winter.

7 o’clock

I met with Ciaran and Padraig this evening. The Minister might know Padraig because he was recently on "Prime Time". They were meeting with my party colleague an Teachta Pearse Doherty. Both men are disabled campaigners, but they should not have to be. I would say disabled people are sick and tired of having to beg for every little bit from the Government. I would say they are sick and tired of having to tell able-bodied decision-makers and policymakers over and over again about the reality of living as a disabled person in this State. It is not fair and not right, and the Government had choices. Disabled people like Padraig who are working face barriers and a cliff edge and fear getting a promotion in work in case they are taken above the income limits for any supports. Imagine that. Imagine being afraid of getting a promotion. We have a long way to go before people with disabilities are respected and supported to live a full life. As has been said in here many times, they are not disabled, they are disabled by society. They need and deserve supports.

See this speech in context