Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

We all know - at least those of us on this side of the House - that there is a substantial additional cost to disability. There is a mountain of evidence, report after report, setting it out in black and white. The cost lands on the shoulders of individuals and families across the State. The question we in Sinn Féin and those on this side of the House are asking is why the Government is refusing to act. Why has it failed to bring forward a cost-of-disability payment to recognise the reality people face in their everyday lives? An increase of €10 on the disability allowance is an insult. That is what I have been told over and over by people with a disability, those who get hit by the same cost-of-living crisis as everyone else. Their situation is compounded by the additional associated costs of the disability.

We all thought that there was some glimmer of hope and recognition in recent years when people with disabilities were given extra support as part of a cost-of-living package, but that glimmer of hope was truly shattered in this year's budget. It was cruel what was announced last week. The Government refused, in the face of a €10 billion surplus, to bring forward a cost-of-living package. Despite massive surpluses, it ripped away a lifeline for people with disabilities. This year's budget was described, and rightly so, by the Disability Federation of Ireland as a "devastating setback for disabled people". My office, as I am sure many others' have been, has been contacted by so many people living with a disability since the budget was announced. People watched in horror as the budget was announced. They are telling us every single day of their stress and fear and about the hardship that they are already enduring as they face into the winter. One woman who was in contact with me said:

This year, people are scared. Really scared. The reality is the Government have made those of us living with a disability even more vulnerable. The price of living has only escalated further in the last year, so I honestly don't know how they can justify it.

I agree with every word she said. I do not know what to tell her because there is no justification for this.

The Government will offer lip service and excuses, but that is cold comfort to people facing into a long, hard winter. It does not mean anything to people with a disability who are worried about being able to turn on the heating this winter. For people living with a disability, it is very clear that this budget was a wrecking ball. The Government, even at this late stage, needs to come to its senses, do the right thing and listen to people with disabilities and understand what it has done in giving them the cold shoulder in this budget. I am calling on the Government, as my colleagues have said in this motion, to introduce a cost-of-disability payment, increase the disability allowance by €20 and deliver lump-sum payments to people with disabilities this month.

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