Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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12. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 18 of 25 April 2024, her plans to reconsider the introduction of a cost-of-disability payment; the details of her or her Department's engagement with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on this matter since the scrapping of the Green Paper; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25427/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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My question is very specific. It relates to the Minister's plans to reconsider the introduction of a cost-of-disability payment and the details of any engagement her Department has had with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on this matter.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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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.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I welcome that there is a major emphasis on disability, the establishment of the Cabinet committee and so on. I ask the Minister to forgive my frustration, which arises because the Indecon report was only one in a long series of reports over decades. I have an interest in looking at reports and tracing how we got to the current point. We have had a number of reports over decades. Twenty years ago, there was an Indecon report produced for the National Disability Authority. At that stage, the additional cost of disability was estimated at €143 per week. In 2015, we had the Cullinan and Lyons report. Then, in 2021, we had another Indecon report. As I said, we are talking about decades of reports. Now, in 2024, we still have not implemented the major recommendations in the Indecon report of 2021.

I acknowledge there is a range of disability and all of that. However, we have done nothing to progress the disability payment that has been asked for by so many organisations within a rights-based context. We have since had a Green Paper. I welcome that it has been scrapped. It caused great upset and distress. We must address the recommendations in the Indecon report, which were made more than three years ago.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy knows, the cost of disability crosses the remit of a number of Departments, encompassing transport, housing adaptation grants and access to services, including healthcare. Income supports are only part of the solution. The disability groups were not happy with the Green Paper. We have to go back to the drawing board, which we are doing by way of the Cabinet committee. We will take learnings from the Green Paper. I do not have a timeline for action because the Green Paper was rejected. The Cabinet committee will look at this issue in the round. In the meantime, I will look at how I can provide additional supports, including through schemes like EmployAbility, the free travel pass and the reasonable accommodation fund. I will continue to work with the disability groups. The Cabinet committee is where it is at right now. It meets regularly, to be fair to it.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Ireland signed the UNCRPD in 2007 and ratified it in 2008. We have utterly failed to ratify the optional protocol to the convention, which would allow people to take an action. For years, we have moved away from charity. I welcome changes the Minister has made, including the different bonuses that have been given. However, organisations working with people with disabilities have repeatedly said we need to move away from that model. They want a model of empowerment that enables people to live. That requires us to provide a basic payment, but we have failed to do so. We are now back to basics. The Green Paper was scrapped, which I welcome, and the issue has gone back to the Cabinet. With an election on the cards, absolutely nothing has been given.

We can choose figures from any report to illustrate the issues. People with a disability are more than twice as likely as those without to experience poverty and deprivation. They have an employment rate of just 36%, which is the fourth lowest in the EU. I could go on. I know the Minister's heart is in this and I know the work she does. However, we have to move away from praising ourselves for giving a little bit from one budget to the next. We must move towards an overall plan that is rights-based and about empowerment.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I published the Green Paper and consulted widely. People did not want it.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Rightly so.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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That was it. I took it off the table. The Cabinet committee is now in place. As I said, it is not just about income supports. There are 1.1 million people in this country who are disabled. The question is how we target the resources. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, continues to consult the sector. The findings from the Green Paper will be taken into consideration at the Cabinet committee.

As I said, it meets regularly. I know the Taoiseach is committed to dealing with this issue. I am happy to do all that I can in my Department to support people with disabilities.