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

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I am really disappointed that we are here dealing with this issue today. The Government recently published the national human rights strategy for disabled people. It spoke about a human rights ethos and the fact that disabled people should have certain things as a right. In fairness, a number of the advocacy organisations, including Rehab, DFI, the IWA and all the constituent parts of the Disability Federation of Ireland, will have representatives here. The one thing they said was that at least last year, even if it was one-off payments, there was a recognition of the cost of disability. We have had multiple reports. We can all go back to the Indecon report of 2021. On average, the cost of disability was found to be between €9,482 and €11,734. We have seen reports that this number has vastly increased on those figures. We have all spoken to people and we know the anecdotal stories. I can speak about a man in my constituency. He speaks about how he can get on in life fine, but he requires orthopedic footwear. I would not even like to call out the figure he has to pay for that, with no element of support whatsoever.

I thank the Disability Federation of Ireland. I will go through a couple of short statements it compiled, because this is the reality for these people. Sinn Féin has put forward a very straightforward proposal. I would like to think that the Government will not only not oppose this motion but will support it and will see the wrong done to those with a disability, who have a huge level of costs and huge difficulties we cannot even imagine. I would like to think we would look at meeting them halfway. We really need to look at a lump-sum payment for those with disabilities. We also need to look at a cost-of-disability payment and an increase of at least €20 to disability-related social welfare payments. That is just a start.

I turn now to the statements:

We are more reliant than ever on our families and our independence is being eroded more and more. This is not because of our disability. This is because we need to address the cost of living and the cost of living with a disability

[...]

I am receiving a disability payment and the household benefit package. The money received from both these payments is inadequate. I have to attend a food bank weekly, and apart from it being demoralising, it is a necessity to survive. Simply, the word saving does not apply to me, as I simply have nothing left over. I know the cold, long winter nights are only around the corner and it scares me to think about it

[...]

I am not looking to be a millionaire. I am looking for security, home, heat, food, family and not to fight for every basic thing.

In the short period I have left, I am also going to ask the Minister to look at the wage subsidy scheme. He announced a €1.20 increase to it. We know, though, that when employers employed a greater number, they used to get paid on the basis of a percentage increase. The Minister, however, has put it in as a lump sum. Rather than an increase of €1.20, in certain cases, in the case of enterprises with three to six employees, we are talking about only a 57 cent increase, while for enterprises with 12 to 16 employees, it is only a 21 cent increase. This has been brought to my attention and it needs to be dealt with. I will provide the information to the Minister later. It needs to be dealt with.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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I do not have to tell the Minister that people across the State are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. The cost of the weekly shop, the cost of utilities, the cost of rent and the cost of fuel are all rising, with little to no support offered in the most recent budget to alleviate some of these pressures on people. People with a disability have these increases to contend with along with the additional financial cost of disability. The 2021 Indecon report estimated the average cost of living with a disability as being between €9,500 and almost €12,000 per year. The previous cost-of-disability package, which included a €400 lump-sum payment, a €12 increase in the disability allowance and a €250 energy credit, has now been stripped away. Even with these offerings, those living with a disability struggled with their costs. One of our citizens who is living with a disability said they cannot afford medication the doctor says they cannot need and that they drag out blood tests as long as they can. To hear this in 21st century Ireland is an absolute disgrace. People are already facing a challenge or risking their health because of their financial circumstances.

In September, in advance of the budget, I had the pleasure of hosting the Rehab group in Leinster House. Those who spoke on the day were mainly Rehab service users and National Learning Network users. They highlighted the numerous financial challenges faced by those with a disability. Their prebudget briefing contained quotes from services users and included comments about people's families buying their clothes and about people having enough to buy the essentials but having absolutely nothing in the event an emergency comes. Others had to move back home now because they could not afford to keep paying high rent.

Those with a disability are already suffering financial hardships. The €10 disability allowance increase in last week's budget will not alleviate any of the financial suffering for those with a disability. This increase does not keep pace with inflation. Even with the cost-of-disability measures, 2024 figures show that one in four recipients remained in poverty. If a council tenant gets a €10 increase, €2 of that will be taken in rent. Indeed, in real terms, the disability allowance is worth less than it was in 2020. It has always been a financial challenge to live with a disability. Unfortunately, because of the Government's failure, 2026 will be even harder, with an effective €1,400 drop in annual income compared with last year. Last week's budget was a bitter blow to those who live with a disability. Despite the pre-election promises and high-profile confrontations, the Government parties have done virtually nothing.

This motion is about providing a level of fairness to those who live with a disability. It is about keeping them out of poverty and deprivation, something that last week's budget absolutely failed to do. We urge the Government to take heed of this financial challenge for vulnerable citizens, to introduce a cost-of-living disability payment and to increase social welfare payments for those with a disability by €20. The Government should recognise that budget 2026 will have a devastating impact on people with disabilities and it should act immediately. It should also provide a lump-sum payment that recognises the additional costs that burden those with a disability.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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The Government's election promises have been shown to be empty, a mere ruse to attract votes. It was a charade that was abandoned as soon as the votes were counted. The Government acknowledged poverty in the run-up to the election but soon afterwards abandoned those facing it.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister will know from the statistics in his Department that people with disabilities and their families are among those most at risk of poverty in the State. They have been abandoned in budget 2026. That is not me as a member of the Opposition saying it. It is what they are telling us. They feel abandoned because they have been abandoned. This is a budget that bears the fingerprints of Fine Gael and the austerity era in every single line. This Government has pulled the rug from under people with disabilities. It has taken away the supports that were keeping their households afloat and replaced them with a pitiful €10 increase in the disability allowance. This is an increase that does not even keep pace with real inflation. Food prices, rents and energy bills are all rising and the response of the Minister's Government is a slap in the face to those who already face the highest cost of living in the State.

The Government's own research has shown that the additional cost of disability is between €9,000 and €11,000 every single year. We heard the Taoiseach dismissing the ESRI earlier today, but it tells us that households with a disabled member are at a very high risk of poverty and that two in five children in such households grow up at a risk of poverty after housing costs are removed from the equation, yet Fine Gael, with the support and leadership of Fianna Fáil it would seem, looks the other way. The Government cut the cost-of-living supports that people depended on and refused to introduce a permanent cost-of-disability payment, a measure that has been repeatedly called for by advocacy groups, Sinn Féin and people with disabilities themselves.

Our alternative budget set out a different path. It called for a €20 increase in the disability allowance, a €300 lump-sum payment to all core welfare reciptients, a €25 increase in the domiciliary care allowance and a €450 energy credit. These are real and practical measures to help people to live with dignity. Instead of fairness and decency, the Government has chosen indifference and neglect.

It is utterly detached from the reality of life for people with disabilities to suggest that a cost-of-disability payment might be considered next year, as if poverty can be put on hold. It is an insult. It follows the insult we saw in the general election campaign last year with the then Taoiseach, now Tánaiste. We see that carried forward a year and it is as if nothing has been learned in that time. Our motion calls for justice, an immediate lump-sum payment this winter and the development of a permanent cost-of-disability payment and. It calls on the Government to reverse course, to stop ignoring those who are suffering most and to recognise the basic truth that poverty and the maintenance of poverty is a political choice and it is the wrong one.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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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.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Speaking at the launch of the five-year national human rights strategy for disabled people in Ireland, the Taoiseach said it was a "landmark moment for the advancement of disability rights in Ireland." Last week, with the budget, the Government cut vital cost-of-living supports for people with disabilities. This amounts to a €1,400 drop in income for people with disabilities across the State. While the Government announced a landmark moment in the achievement of disability rights in Ireland, at the same time, the same Government announced devastating setbacks for people with disabilities and many in their households. This Government is pushing one of the most vulnerable groups of people in society into poverty. It is predicted by the ESRI and the Parliamentary Budget Office that poverty will rise for people with disabilities in the coming years as a consequence of this budget.

We have a cost-of-living crisis that is affecting everyone in the same way, but for people with disabilities and their families it is far worse. They are constantly struggling. They have no disposable income and barely survive on a week-to-week basis. Ireland has the lowest disability employment in the EU. The reason for this is that people with a disability who are in receipt of social protection payment are afraid to take up part-time employment in case they lose that payment. We come across them all the time. The system is set up in a way to cut someone if they try to get work. God forbid if they decide to take up a part-time or full-time job; they will be banished from ever applying for disability payment again. We need to invest in disability services. If someone is able to do some part-time work, it does not mean they are automatically cured of their disability. Disability payments should continue to be paid while people take up employment, and should they have to cease that employment at any time, they should automatically go back to their full-time rate of disability payment without the need to go into a full 12-month application process all over again. That needs to happen. It does not happen.

When people are in poverty, it is not just being unable to buy something. It is the absence of ambition. It is the stress and tension that this causes in a family and a household that they cannot plan for the future or look forward. They become strangled by it. That is the real cost of poverty because it has a long-term cost as people go on in life that they have a fear of ever falling back into that place again. For people with a disability, they have that profound problem with the disability they have, but then they have the extra problem whereby poverty has been a part of their lives as they grew up, and as they go into adulthood, they fear that coming at them again. If the Government is serious about having disability rights, it needs to ensure that it stands over those rights, that it actually funds the services for people but also that people with disabilities have adequate incomes to be able to live full and proper lives.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas le Sinn Féin as ucht an seans cúrsaí míchumais a phlé anocht. I am not opposing the motion put forward by Sinn Féin this evening, but we will take the opportunity to discuss these important issues and lay out much of the work we are doing. We recognise, and it is not exclusive to the Opposition, the additional cost that disabled people face in their daily lives. We are committed to addressing the cost of disability in a comprehensive, but also permanent and sustainable, way. Our determination to address this issue is reflected in the programme for Government commitment to introduce a permanent annual cost-of-disability support payment, with a view to incrementally increasing it. Delivering on this commitment is a core objective of the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, which we published in mid-September. We know that addressing the cost of disability is not just a question of income support. The delivery of services is also key.

The motion and a number of speakers have referred to the Indecon report on the cost of disability, which was commissioned by the Department of Social Protection. That report sets out how addressing the additional cost of disability requires a much broader approach than simply increasing existing payments or introducing new ones. We need all of the Departments and agencies of government to work together to address the issue in a comprehensive and permanent way. A dedicated disability unit has been established in the Department of An Taoiseach to drive progress on enhancing supports for people with disabilities across every sector of government. Progress will also be led and monitored by the Cabinet committee on children, disability and education.

It is because of the need for a cross-government approach that the strategic focus network on the cost of disability is being established. This is an important commitment under the national human rights strategy for disabled people. This strategic focus network will be led by the Department of Social Protection, but it is a cross-government exercise. It will also include people with disabilities and their advocates. Work is already under way to establish and define the remit of the strategic focus network. The remit of the network and the timeline for its work will be discussed at the December meeting of the disability consultative forum, which I attend. The members of the forum have already been asked to think about how they would like to see the process operating and their ideas and suggestions will be central to this. The work will also be discussed with a number of key disability advocacy groups bilaterally. The first of these bilateral meetings will be held at the end of this month. I will be asking my officials to reach out to the spokespeople of all the parties for their input into this process as well.

It is intended that the network will comprise a range of stakeholders, including disabled people and their advocates. It will consider and develop proposals on how best to help people with a disability to meet the additional costs. In addition to considering the appropriate level and eligibility conditions for a cost-of-disability payment, it is intended that the network will consider what other measures might be taken to reduce or mitigate these costs permanently.

This consultation with disabled people will ensure that their voices are central as we work on this issue together in a targeted and, most importantly, sustainable way. Our work will be informed by the relevant research, including the Indecon and ESRI reports referred to in the motion. I intend to ensure that we have this work completed and bring forward proposals to Government in the first half of next year.

A broad range of income supports are already available. They include the disability allowance, invalidity pension, blind pension and partial capacity benefit. There are almost 230,500 recipients of disability income support payments, with an estimated investment of €3.24 billion this year. Spending on disability payments has increased by €650 million in the past five years. The number of beneficiaries has increased by 4.7% in that time. This is permanent expenditure. It is not one-off expenditure that is judged on a year-to-year basis. There has been a €51 per week increase in the weekly disability income support payment since 2021.

Budget 2026 is the first of this Government's five budgets. We are at the start of a five-year programme for Government. Not everything can be done in year one, but the Government has put in place a significant investment in disability services in the budget. I am conscious of our commitments and my desire, and that of the Government, to support people with disabilities with the cost of disability. The Department of Social Protection package builds on the comprehensive level of support by targeting measures to support carers and recipients of domiciliary care allowance, and making it easier for people with disabilities to progress into and, importantly, stay in employment. We have provided for a €10 increase in the weekly rates of payments such as the disability allowance. That will bring the personal rate of payment to €254 per week from January. There will also be a bonus of a double week's payment in December.

Recipients of disability allowance who have children will see their weekly rates of child support payment increased by €16 to €78 for children aged 12 or over and by €8 to €58 for children under 12 from 1 January 2026. These are the largest ever increases in these payments, which have increased by €48.20 and €28.20, respectively, since 2017. The monthly rate of domiciliary care allowance will increase by €20 to €380 per month from January 2026. This represents an increase of over €700, or 23%, since 2022. The fuel allowance will increase by €5 to €38 per week from January 2026, providing recipients with an additional €140 during the annual fuel allowance season.

I am focused on encouraging people to take up work, and Deputy Kenny's suggestion is one on which I am working. Those moving from disability allowance or the blind pension to take up work will be able to retain their fuel allowance payment for up to five years as a result of the budget. That is important because I am aware that the fear of losing secondary benefits is a significant barrier to people taking up employment. We are making the back-to-work family dividend available to people with children who move off disability allowance or blind pension and into employment. Under this scheme, a person can retain the value of their child support payment for a year and half of its value in the second year in respect of up to four children. That is another important support to help people make the transition into employment.

The wage subsidy scheme referred to Deputy Ó Murchú is a key disability employment support provided by my Department. It aims to encourage employers to offer substantial and sustainable employment. Budget 2026 provides for reducing the number of bands in the wage subsidy scheme from five to three and increasing all the rates so that from April 2026, the base rate will be €7.50 per hour, up from €6.30. Where an employer employs between seven and 16 employees under the scheme, they will receive a new rate of €8.50 per hour. In the case of an employer who has more than 17 employees under the scheme, the new rate will be €10 per hour for each employee. I will revert to the Deputy on his specific query.

The budget also provides for the extension of the wage subsidy scheme to certain people already at work who acquire a disability or whose ability to work has reduced such that their job tasks or role has to be significantly adapted by their employer. These improvements build on other recent enhancements to the scheme. We have reduced the minimum requirement from 21 hours to 15 hours per week. We have modernised the language. We have increased the pool of potential employers by extending the scheme to the community and voluntary sector and to the non-commercial semi-State sector.

We also made significant changes to the carer's allowance means test. The weekly income disregard will be increased by 60% from €625 to €1,000 for a single person and from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers with a spouse, partner or cohabitant. Since June 2022, this will amount to cumulative increases to the disregards of €667.50 for a single carer and €1,335 for a carer who is part of couple, or an increase of just over 200%.

In budget 2026, the Government allocated €3.8 billion to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality for disability services in 2026. This includes funding for community-based specialist disability services to ensure that those with disabilities receive the right support at the right time in the right place. This represents a 20% increase, year on year, and an overall increase since 2020 of €1.8 billion. We have established a dedicated unit in the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to drive reform and to lead a full review of Ireland's disability service model. This unit will work hand in hand with disabled people, their families and representative organisations to shape a long-term vision for services to 2030.

We are not opposing this motion. I look forward to hearing the ideas that are shared. I am absolutely committed to introducing a permanent cost-of-disability payment that is not designed by the Government but that is designed by, and has the input of, those with disabilities and their advocates. There are many with a genuine interest in this area whose views we can capture.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Among those who felt let down by last week's budget were people with disabilities and their families. Those families are used to the parties in government failing them but once again, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael did not even try to prove them wrong. Disabled people feel the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis. They suffer as much as, and arguably more than, all the others who were last week abandoned by a horrible and cruel budget. Disabled people also face costs that most of us do not. There is a recognised cost of disability. It is recognised, it seems, by everyone expect the members of the Government. There must be a permanent cost-of-disability payment. The payment should not just stop at pension age because the cost of disability does not stop. It is unfair and nonsensical that someone who is entitled to a disability payment until they reach retirement age is then moved onto an old age pension with no recognition of the additional financial burden their disability brings.

Families with children who have profound disabilities often face the greatest burden of all. That is especially true in counties such as Cavan and Monaghan where children are denied the services and treatments they deserve by the HSE. Waiting lists for occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy treatments are so long, especially in Cavan, that it is probably simpler to say they do not exist at all.

Of the 225 children awaiting an assessment for disciplinary support in Cavan, 208 have been waiting for over a year. What does that mean for parents? It means they spend every spare penny they have trying to source private treatment. The Government continually kicks them in the teeth and forces families to source the treatment, often involving long distances of travel, and then refuses to reimburse them the costs involved. Like many of his contemporaries on the Government benches, the Minister talks the talk about respecting and caring for our citizens with disabilities but he does not walk the walk by providing them with the supports they need.

Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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I commend my colleagues on their work on this motion. Most importantly, I pay tribute to the various disability advocacy groups for their invaluable assistance.

I worked as a carer for people with disabilities for 18 years in south Kilkenny. The most consistent thing I encountered over those years was that people with a disability want to live as independently as possible. The harsh reality is that the actions of the Minister and his colleagues over several budgets have made this increasingly difficult. The Government has pushed them towards a greater dependency on family, friends and neighbours. They face the loss of their disability allowance and other essential supports like medical cards, with even the slightest increase in their income. Many people living with a disability want to work. They want to contribute what they can to society. They want to experience the social inclusion that comes with it. However, the risk of losing these vital supports holds them back. As a result, people with disabilities and their households are at a dangerous risk of poverty. This is simply wrong.

These are not the values of equality our Republic is built on. The State should be tearing down these barriers to social inclusion, not building them higher. It is clear to me, as someone who worked in the disability sector for 18 years, that too many in the Dáil simply do not understand these daily struggles because if they did and we had more elected Members with this lived experience, we would have seen a very different budget last week. A miserable €10 weekly increase in the disability allowance is an insult. It does not even keep up with inflation. There is a cost-of-living crisis that we are all aware of but what is not being addressed enough is the harsh reality of the cost-of-living crisis for those living with a disability.

I want to share with the Dáil the words of one such person who lives with this reality every day. They have to attend a food bank weekly and apart from it being demoralising it is a necessity to survive. The word "saving" does not apply to them as simply, there is nothing left. They know the cold, long winter nights are around the corner and it scares them to think about it.

It is our duty to ensure those living with a disability are not left behind, are not shut off from society and get to play their part in an inclusive Ireland.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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Budget 2026 was an insult to people with disabilities. Cost-of-living measures have been pulled and a miserable €10 per week increase in the disability allowance payment was all the Minister could offer. The Disability Federation of Ireland estimates this amounts to a €1,400 drop in income for people with disabilities; a group who are already at increased risk of poverty. The federation's research shows that households with a disabled member require, on average, 50% extra disposable income to achieve the same standard of living as a similar household with no disabled members. The Minister knew all of this but he made a political choice to abandon people with disabilities in this budget and to push even more people into poverty. The Government has to recognise the fact that living with a disability comes with increased costs and people need supports that reflect that. The Minister said he does recognise this and he wants to introduce a cost of disability payment in future, but that is no comfort to people with disabilities in the here and now who will struggle to pay their bills this winter.

I hosted the Brothers of Charity Galway advocacy council in Leinster House recently. Their representatives gave a presentation in the audiovisual room where they spoke about the increased costs they face to maintain a decent quality of life. They raised issues such as the cost and frequency of applying for disabled parking permits, the cost of repeated essential blood tests that are not covered by their medical cards and the cost of essential and accessible transport, to name but a few. All of these items add up. They are not optional for people with disabilities and they are left with having to decide which essential items are prioritised.

Budget 2026 was an opportunity to ease cost pressures on people with disabilities but the Minister has decided to abandon them and saying there might be a better package down the line is out of touch. People need support now. Supporting people with disabilities is one of the most fundamental things we must do as a society. The Government must act now to provide adequate financial support.

The Minister has committed to abolishing the means test for carers but the investment in this budget has not been sufficient. It will take the Government over a decade to abolish the means test if it continues at this pace. This also needs to be reconsidered. Big promises were made to carers during the general election; they need to be treated with respect and the Government needs to live up to them.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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Budget 2026 was a serious step backwards for people with disabilities. They are angry and rightly so. The Indecon report commissioned by the Government in 2021 put the financial cost of disability in the region of €12,000 per year. An ESRI study showed that households with a disabled member face significant financial burdens ad are at a very high risk of poverty. For people who are unable to work due to a disability the 2024 Central Statistics Office, CSO, poverty figures showed that one in five live in consistent poverty, two in five live in enforced deprivation and are unable to afford the essentials such as heating and new clothes. The at risk of poverty rate increased by 5% last year to 32.5% and when the one-off cost-of-living measures are taken out that at risk of poverty rate was actually 37.4%. Government Ministers and backbenchers have been beside themselves in the past week saying that not everything can be done in one budget but how long does the Government want people with disabilities to actually wait?

The talk that the Government may consider a cost of disability payment in next year's budget is completely detached from the reality of how poverty affects disabled people in the here and now, as if subjecting hundreds of thousands of people to the harm of poverty and material deprivation in the coming year can be simply undone with the tick of a pen this time next year. The Minister has time. Will he develop and introduce a cost of disability payment? Will he increase the disability allowance and other disability-contingent social welfare payments by €20 from this January as an interim measure to begin to recognise the additional costs that come from living with a disability? Will he deliver a lump sum payment for people with disabilities this month to provide immediate recognition of these additional costs? It was cruel, and quite frankly unjustifiable, to pull supports from a group of people who experience such high levels of poverty and deprivation. The Government's budget goes nowhere near what needs to be done to support our disabled community and give it what it deserves in return. The Minister has the opportunity. He can do the right thing. He can make meaningful steps to ensure anybody living with a disability is not also living in fear of how he or she will heat his or her home, keep the lights on, or put petrol or diesel in their car.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this very important motion on the cost of disability payment. I welcome the fact the Minister is in the Chamber for the debate.

I will begin with an email that was sent by a constituent who has multiple sclerosis, in response to budget 2026. She writes that she cannot work and her husband's wage is above the disability threshold. She has a son in college and another in secondary school. She has been diagnosed since 2018. She has never gotten any financial support and has to pay for all the therapies. It is tough and degrading but she had hoped that something in the budget would help her. She is not angry anymore; she is just heartbroken. Today, she feels invisible and forgotten. She is not looking for money to go to buy treats. It is just for physiotherapy and acupuncture, which helps with pain, diesel money and car parking for regular medical appointments - Tallaght Hospital costs €10 for parking - and good quality shoes to help with walking. The daily cost of living is crazy. She asks what can she do so the Government can hear her voice? She writes that the disabled do not shout so they are easily pushed into a corner. She does not believe the Government will put finance into services that most will not even benefit from. It is just words to distract the public and kick that can down the road.

That is just one example of some of the emails I have received. Disabled people, like my constituent, are forced to survive on low incomes while facing sky-high extra costs every day. We know from the Indecon report published back in 2021 that people with a disability face extra costs of between nearly €9,000 and €12,00 per year. These are costs that are not covered by current social welfare payments such as the disability allowance. Since, 2021 there has been a dramatic inflationary pressure impacting many households with the real cost of disability increasing to €10,500 and even close to €15,000. These additional costs can increase with the number of disabilities or chronic illnesses, with the highest average cost being in the region of almost €50,000. The Government does not have any idea what it has done to the disabled community.

The Government has left them totally devastated, with the Disability Federation of Ireland calling this a "betrayal". The Government has shown no intention of addressing the cost of disability or changing outdated social welfare limits that confine many disabled people to their homes. These are all the core issues that have been left on the long finger. While Government rhetoric has focused on increased investment in services, which we all welcome, this will do little to affect the challenges facing people with disabilities daily such as high levels of unemployment and poverty. There are at least eight programme for Government commitments to address the cost of disability, including introducing a cost-of-disability payment and extending free travel to children who receive the domiciliary care allowance. Budget 2026 did not address a single one of those commitments. In fact it increased the costs faced by disabled people. The Government's decision to cut measures from the previous budget means, as said by many previous speakers, that many disabled people will lose almost €1,300 a year. That is not spare cash anyone has lying around; it is what kept the lights on and the house warm. These measures should have been made permanent in a cost-of-disability payment, which the Labour Party proposed, starting at €25 a week. Instead, the Government decided to introduce subsidised burgers. It is remarkable that only a few weeks ago, the Government published its first ever human rights strategy for disabled people. This has not been matched with the ambition or required funding in budget 2026.

It has left disabled people and their families feeling invisible and forgotten once again. Nearly €700 will be wasted on a VAT cut for Ronald McDonald. This is a big business sector already making massive profits while disabled people like my constituent are not entitled to a single allowance or support from the Government. This is not pocket change; it is almost €700 million that will be of most benefit to those in big business. Along with a cost-of-disability payment, nearly €1.2 billion was given away to fast-food chains and property developers. This could have increased the income disregard for those on the disability allowance to €250. It could have increased funding for the EmployAbility and WorkAbility programmes to support people with disabilities in the workplace. It could have provided for 1,000 extra places on the wage subsidy scheme, restoring the link to 70% of the national minimum wage and introduce reforms to improve the scheme. All of this would only have cost, according to our costed budget, €350 million with enough left over to provide even more supports like increasing the living alone allowance to €27 per week and the fuel allowance by €9.50, providing an additional four weeks also.

I wish to raise those living with a disability and the problems they have in gaining employment. The wage subsidy scheme could provide a much better pathway for more people to enter employment. However, one of the biggest employers of those with a disability, Rehab, in conversation said the Government's announcement of €1.20 increase in the minimum wage seems disingenuous given the actual increases applied to anyone employing more than two disabled employees range between 18 cent and 94 cent, considerably less than €1.20 and, in most instances, less than the increase in the national minimum wage of 65 cent. This is the type of comment I am hearing on the budget proposals. I ask that these examples be re-examined.

I wish to put on the record a conversation I had with a person in receipt of the disability allowance on my way to Dublin today. This person cannot afford to put the heating on for the hours his disability and medical conditions require. Instead, he goes to bed early and wraps himself up in his duvet. To add insult, his phone was recently cut off for a number of days by Eir even though it knew he was a vulnerable customer. The reply from that company when he rang them when he got his phone back was that it had a new system and the computer did not recognise he was a vulnerable customer. All of this was for an outstanding bill of €96. This is an example of the daily life of many of the people I deal with who are living with a disability. This is why the Government should have chosen a disability payment over a big VAT cut for bigger and bigger businesses.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion and the Minister, Deputy Calleary, for his presence in the Chamber. This is an important debate because it affects every TD. People call into our constituency offices about family members or themselves in relation to their disabilities. Often, you come across people in difficult circumstances who may be on disability allowance. My colleague, Deputy Wall, gave an example. People cannot turn on the heating, afford to pay a phone bill or keep the lights on. That is the difficulty we face. It is shameful politicians would have to speak to individuals with disabilities and offer them absolutely nothing of substance to keep them warm in their homes and allow them to keep their lights on or their phone on. The rigmarole of the disability allowance form is something I struggle to comprehend. There is a difficulty for a lot of people who cannot fill out the form. I previously worked for the former Deputy, Sean Sherlock. I spent a lot of my time filling disability allowance application forms for individuals who genuinely could not do it. Now, my secretary fills out disability allowance application forms for people. Ultimately, that is the ground hurling; it is what we are there to do but it is difficult for some individuals to present at a constituency office to ask people working in the office to fill out the form.

I will touch on something that is outside of the Minister's remit - assessment of need. It is one of the biggest difficulties I hear from families. It is often in the most stressful of cases that families come to their local politician to try to progress an assessment of need. It is deeply emotional because at the centre is a child. That is the bottom line. Children are not being given the entitlements. They face barrier after barrier to get the essential therapies and supports they so badly need. There are a number of examples. A manager in a CDNT in Cork told a family, "We are finding it impossible to source a psychologist to allow us to complete the assessments. We are continuing to explore all the options but we are not in a position to complete any autism assessment right now". A school in Cork informed parents it would move to either a three-day or four-day week due to a critical shortage of special needs assistants. These children depend on consistency and care provide in schools. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, on the progress he has made in rolling out essential school therapies but students face consistent barriers. I know this from experience. There were children in my classroom at second level who should not have been in a mainstream environment. The reason they were was there was such a backlog in assessment of need they were not given the opportunity to go to a special education needs setting. At the centre of this are children. I understand this is outside the Minister's remit. This Government must realise the extent of the problems families face.

Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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I commend Sinn Féin on its motion.

As the Minister knows, it has been long recognised that having a disability comes with significant additional financial pressures that include the cost of therapy, equipment and transport. Despite repeated calls from advocacy groups over many years to introduce a cost-of-disability payment, the Minister’s Government decided not to implement this measure in budget 2026. The gulf between Government rhetoric and action on disability remains immense and shows little sign of closing as things stand. The Social Democrats proposed a cost-of-disability payment in our alternative budget that would have amounted to €1,040 per year and an additional €780 in disability allowance over a year. The Government has increased disability allowance annually by €520, meaning disabled people are €1,300 worse off per year under this budget than they would have been under our proposals. A joint study earlier this year from the Economic and Social Research Institute and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, entitled "Adjusting Estimates of Poverty for the Cost of Disability", showed that the additional costs faced by disabled people are now estimated to be between 52% and 59% of disposable income. For those with more severe difficulties this rises to as much as 83% to 93%, which is staggering. These costs can involve a range of issues, including personal assistants and care hours as well as equipment, transport and medicines. The report also highlighted how traditional poverty measurements underestimate the level of deprivation experienced by people with disabilities because they fail to account for these unavoidable additional costs. This is a very stark reflection of how far behind the country is in providing meaningful support to disabled people.

The introduction of a non-means-tested cost-of-disability payment was proposed as far back as 2006 by the National Disability Authority, which undertook detailed costings and research at that time. This was updated in the comprehensive Indecon report of 2021. Both clearly demonstrated the significant extra costs involved in living with a disability. The findings have been consistently echoed by the Disability Federation of Ireland, which has long advocated for this cost-of-disability payment and has argued that if enacted, it would represent a structural long-term recognition of the cost of disability. It comes down to a basic matter of fairness, equality and dignity for people with disabilities. It is injurious to people with disabilities that they have been put to the back of the queue for financial support once again after being left with a significant reduction in income after the stripping away of one-off measures introduced to buy the last election. The budget was described by the Disability Federation of Ireland as "a betrayal of disabled people". The vague reference in the budget to consultation on a cost-of-disability payment that might be introduced at some point adds further insult to injury.

Changes to the wage subsidy scheme are a further disappointment from the budget. The scheme is a financial support to employers who recruit people with disabilities. An increase of €1.20 per hour from €6.30 to €7.50 only applies to employers with a maximum of two disabled employees, so any other employer taking on more than two receives the wage subsidy scheme on a sliding scale, meaning for the most part that the more people with disabilities employed, the less the increase. As such, Rehab Group, which is one of the largest non-governmental employers of people with disabilities, will receive just an extra 55 cent from last year’s rate per hour. This seems grossly unfair and clearly penalises employers seeking to take more people with disabilities into the workforce.

The budget was the Government’s opportunity to match its nice words on valuing carers with concrete actions that would both recognise the indispensable nature of carers’ work and also the degree to which the work of carers saves the State billions. It would have been an opportunity to meaningfully acknowledge carers’ work as work as opposed to some form of optional charity. As with so many of the basics of a just society, the Government decided to tinker around the edges of the means test for carers’ allowance rather than abolish it once and for all. This leaves many carers who have had to leave their careers to look after a family member who requires full-time care and support without this modest payment to provide them with a modicum of financial security because their savings or their spouse’s income pushes them slightly over the threshold. For carers who are locked out of this basic financial support, applying for the carer’s allowance and being rejected is a draining, grinding and alienating process. The Government and the Minister talked about being unable to abolish the means test in 2026 almost with a sense of inevitability and implied that proposals by the Social Democrats to do so were naïve or idealistic, but dragging out this decision is not inevitable. It is a political choice. The Government could have asked banks which are highly profitable and were bailed out by the State during the financial crash to pay a bit more or it could continue to lean on carers for the work they are not thanked for, intruding into their finances and devaluing their contribution to society. Unfortunately the Minister’s Government chose the latter and in so doing it again underestimated carers and people with disabilities not just for their qualities and contribution to society, but also their growing political power as a movement that will bring about electoral change very soon.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I acknowledge Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion. Without question we will support it wholeheartedly. A cost-of-disability payment is long overdue. It is fair, it is practical and it recognises what the State has known for years, which is that living with a disability in Ireland carries a very real financial cost. Its omission from last year's budget was profoundly disappointing. The Government’s own Indecon report found that people with disabilities face extra costs of between €9,000 and €11,000 every single year. The ESRI confirmed the same pattern again this year. Households with a person with a disability are far more likely to live in poverty.

There is another cost I want to talk about. This cost is not seen in a budget or found in a balance sheet. It is the emotional cost of care; the anxiety for those who to provide care to a loved one. Last night I attended a meeting at the Ballybough handball alley alongside Deputy Sherlock. I am sure that for every one of us who has the privilege of doing the job we do a week probably does not go by without meeting a person or hearing a story that stops you in your tracks. Last night I was invited to the initiation of a campaign group called Before I Die. There I met more than two dozen parents. These were mothers and fathers who have spent their entire lives caring for their sons and daughters with intellectual disabilities. I was at the bottom of a row of seats. In front of me were about two dozen parents of all ages. Some were in their 80s and some were slightly younger. Some had gone through a divorce and others had lost a husband or wife. Each of them carried a picture of their now-adult child who they provide care for every day. They looked at us, as people they had elected to represent them, told their stories of the care they provide to their sons and daughters and then asked of us the simple question of what will happen to their adult children after they pass away. When any of us who hear those stories look into the whites of the eyes of the people who are asking us that question, we cannot help but wear it on our skin and make a commitment we will carry that story into the Chambers where we make the decisions that have impacted their lives. The question of what will happen after they die is at the heart of the campaign and is one no parent should have to ask. Among them were Tony and Susan, whose daughter Aoife is 42. She is bright, funny and full of life. Tony and Susan are in their seventies and have loved and cared for Aoife every day of her life, but what they asked me and what every parent in that room asked in their own way was what will happen to their children when they are gone.

More than 2,000 adults with intellectual disabilities are still living at home with their parents and 500 of those carers are already over 80. More than 1,200 people under the age of 65 are in nursing homes not because that is what they need, but because there is nowhere else for them to go. That is not a care system but a crisis disguised as normality. These families have held up Ireland’s disability services through sheer love and determination but they are exhausted. They live with the constant fear that when they can no longer lift, feed or comfort their child the State will not be there.

The services that should support them are stretched to breaking point. St. Michael's House had five respite houses before the recession and now only has one. Providers are running on deficits. Staff are leaving. Supports arrive in emergencies but never as a right. The National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers has warned that families are in crisis and services are in survival mode. That is what I saw last night in Ballybough. I saw people who have given everything and are still living in fear not of their death but of what happens afterwards. We need a cost-of-disability payment and I would welcome it wholeheartedly, but if we stop there we will miss a deeper truth, which is that the cost of care is being paid every day in exhaustion, in anxiety and in the quiet panic of ageing parents who fear dying before their children are safe.

8 o’clock

Love should never be a substitute for the State. If the Government is serious about equality, the people I met last night asked for three things. First, they asked for the creation of a national residential care plan for adults with disabilities, that the Government publish clear targets and provide ring-fenced funding and that it close the shortfall of between 800 and 2,300 residential places within its lifetime. Second, they asked the Government to restore respite care to at least pre-recession levels. Families need time to rest and recover. Respite is never a luxury; it is what keeps everything else standing. The third ask is to fix the funding model for disability providers. There are 30,000 people working in this sector. They need stability to plan, hire and keep delivering care with dignity. This is not charity, it is the essence of what it means to be a citizen.

Last night in Ballybough, every parent told me the same thing: they do not want sympathy, they want certainty. They want to know their children will be safe, valued and loved when they are gone. We call ourselves a republic that cherishes all its children equally, but if we continue like this, leaving families to carry the emotional and financial burden of the State, then those words simply mean nothing. The cost-of-disability payment will ease some of the pressure but it must be the start of something bigger, a turning point where we finally build a country that plans ahead, that provides and that gives families peace of mind.

The name of the campaign is Before We Die. It is a plea, but it is also a challenge to build a republic that truly cares for people like Aoife, not after their parents are gone but while they are still here to see it. Those parents have already given everything. There is so much we can do for people with disabilities in this country. A minimum starting point would be to provide their parents with the certainty of knowing that their children will be cared for after they have gone. That is the essence of a republic. What else matters beyond that?

Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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One in 12 people has a lifelong disability, which is roughly 8% of the population. How we treat these people presents a challenge for society. Two out of five people with a disability are at risk of poverty. One in five lives in absolute and consistent poverty. That is a shocking figure in itself. It is well documented that the cost of living is higher for people with disabilities. The costs have been well outlined in terms of transport, medical costs, the cost of heating and everything else. We must look at this in the context of the cost-of-living crisis. We are not living in normal times. The rate of inflation is accelerating, in particular the cost of essentials such as heating, food, transport and everything else. A Government report in 2021 confirmed the additional cost of disability was between €9,480 and €11,734. That is huge.

What we are discussing here tonight is important, namely, a cost-of-living disability payment, an additional €20 per week from January and a lump-sum payment this month to provide immediate assistance to people with disabilities. It is really important that we do that. This is a huge issue.

I want to highlight one issue relating to young people and the cost of disability. I am sure the Minister has come across it. A reply from the HSE indicated that in the region I live in, Laois-Offaly, there is currently a backlog of approximately 20 months-plus for an assessment of need for a child. I know it is taking even longer than that. What that means for those parents is very simple. They are begging and borrowing to meet the costs because they are going privately to get the assessment done. However, that is only to get the assessment done, and when it is done, they then have to try to source the therapies, which often are not available. I want to highlight that as one additional cost, in particular for people who have children with special needs. It is important to bring that point home to the Minister.

One young person in the county, among the many who contacted me, put it very well. He wrote me a letter regarding his concerns about the recently announced budget. They said that their income is exclusively the disability allowance, due to their circumstances. The person said the budget for 2026 had overlooked and neglected their needs and the needs of many others. The disability allowance was increased by €10 to €254. However, the poverty line in 2024 for a single adult such as the correspondent was assessed by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul as anything below €346. That is what the person stated in the letter. I highlight this letter to show the human story underlying the debate.

Many people with a disability suffer from depression because they are isolated in their home and due to their financial situation. The mortality rate is a lot higher for people with a disability. They are more likely to suffer from mental health issues if they are confined to their home, especially if they have no work. The pathways to employment for people with a disability in the State are not good.

I recently visited Rehab Enterprises in Laois to see the work they do and to meet some of the people there with disabilities. It was heartening to see what they can do when they are given the opportunity. Ireland ranks lowest in terms of employment for those with a disability. The difference is almost 20%. It is worse for women, where the difference in the level of unemployment reaches almost 45%. Those who are moderately disabled should be given better opportunities to gain employment and better access to education. In particular, it is really important for young people that their ability, not their disability, and talents be recognised, valued and utilised. I impress on the Minister the importance of trying to develop further pathways to work. It is very important that we do that. Many people with disabilities have so much to offer. I am sure the Minister has seen cases himself. We do not recognise people's ability enough.

The rate of €254 in the budget for 2026 is inadequate. The gap is in the region of €10,000. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul says a minimum of €346 per week is required. It would be a start to have an increase of at least €20 from January. Let us start to look at the ability of disabled people and focus less on their disability. I encourage the Government to do that in the future.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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It is accepted that persons with disabilities and their families face a much higher cost of living than people generally. A Government-commissioned report prepared by Indecon in 2021 confirmed this. It reported the additional cost at between €9,500 and €12,000 per annum. Research by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice put the additional cost at about €244 per week. A study this year by the Economic and Social Research Institute showed that households with disabled persons face significant financial burdens and are at very high risk of poverty.

Many of these households are doubly affected because they also have members who care on a 24-hour basis on a carer's allowance of €260 per week or €1.55 per hour. It is not unusual therefore for carers themselves to become ill from stress, overwork and isolation, resulting in a situation where both disabled persons and their carers are hospitalised. It is important to note that carers save the State about €20 billion each year, preventing avoidable hospital admissions and enabling many people to remain in their homes safely for longer periods.

In the run-up to the last general election, all parties committed to introducing a weekly cost-of-disability payment. There is no sign of that payment currently, nor was it in last week's budget. I fully agree with the motion put forward by Sinn Féin this evening, which calls for the immediate introduction of a weekly cost-of-living payment and a lump-sum payment before Christmas in recognition of the additional costs.

I want to return to the fundamental issue of the timely assessment of need within the six-month time limit. The Government continues to break the law that requires the completion of an assessment of need within six months of referral. There are 16,000 children on waiting lists currently and that is estimated to increase to 20,000 by year end.

There are over 40,000 on waiting lists for various therapies such as speech and language, occupational therapy, psychology, etc. I welcome the additional moneys for the assessment of need included in the budget last week. I commend the teenage disability rights campaigner, Cara Darmody from Ardfinnan in south Tipperary, who has extracted two tranches of funding for this service. Unfortunately, even with the extra funding, we will still be running to standstill and the Government will continue to break the law, denying thousands of children their legal right to an assessment within the six-month time limit. This is because there is no policy, no strategy and no plan to deal with the unacceptable waiting list.

Much has been made of the special Cabinet committee on disability based in the Taoiseach's office. However, we have seen no coherent plan emerging from this committee to tackle the assessment of need waiting list. Dollops of money at budget time alone will not solve this problem. Last week the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters heard presentations from representatives of the National Disability Authority. That authority was established under the National Disability Authority Act 1999. Its main statutory functions are: to advise the Government on disability policy and related issues; to undertake and commission research in relation to disability; develop standards and codes of practice to support accessibility and universal design; to monitor the implementation of disability policy and legislation at national level; and to promote universal design across services, the built environment, information and communication technology and public policy. Its role is to provide evidence, policy advice and monitoring that informs Government decision making.

I was surprised and disappointed to find that the special Cabinet committee on disability had not even requested advice from the authority on how the unacceptable assessment of need waiting list might be dealt with. I was further surprised to find that the authority itself had not on its own initiative and on the basis of its statutory advisory responsibility suggested or proposed such a plan to deal with the unacceptable waiting list.

As the Minister knows, timely assessment of need is the fundamental issue facing disability services. It is the foundation and basis for all future education and development for the individuals concerned and the development of the necessary services. It is as though this issue is not being taken seriously. I call on the National Disability Authority and the Government to prepare and publish urgently a paper on how the huge waiting list for the assessment of need is to be dealt with into the future. This is a fundamental issue which underpins everything that needs to be done in relation to disability services. The sooner we have that plan and that paper the better.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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Today Senator Tom Clonan hosted a briefing on the challenges still facing children with scoliosis and spinal bifida. While we look at this area again in its own right, I reiterate my support for a full public inquiry on the whole scandal regarding the treatment of children awaiting scoliosis operations and related treatments, covering the entire lifespan of Children's Health Ireland but also going back to the years preceding its establishment. We need to shine a light on this shameful period and learn from the mistakes.

In his contribution today, Senator Clonan used the opportunity to highlight again how a rights-based approach to dealing with disability issues is required. This does not mean turning on an endless tap of money. However, it means looking at it from the perspective of fundamental rights where nobody should be forced into poverty because of a disability, where nobody should be disincentivised from working because of a disability and where family carers should be adequately covered for their contribution to helping people where appropriate or indeed where family members care for people who would otherwise cost the State far more if they were left in the system. I am talking about the people who care for elderly parents, for example, who could be in the system.

In terms of disability services, it means funding services adequately and supporting people with disabilities to enjoy a meaningful quality of life rather than subsistence living. As people will recall, Ireland signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, in 2007. It was not ratified until March 2018 but last year Ireland announced its decision to accede to the optional protocol of the UNCRPD which allows individuals to file complaints with the UN if they believe their rights under convention have been violated. I heard the Minister state earlier that the Government is totally aware of the cost of disability and is committed to dealing with this on a human rights basis. It had better act soon or the complaints will be mounting.

It is now more than four years since the Indecon report on the hidden costs of disability was published. It was commissioned by the Department of Social Protection. We heard contributions mention the €10,000 average cost cited in Government reports like the Indecon report and the more recent ESRI report. However, as the Disability Federation of Ireland, DFI, has pointed out, with inflation over the past couple of years, the estimates in some of these reports could be up to €15,000, depending on different costs, which is more than the payment itself.

In the past three budgets the Government provided the one-off cost of disability supports post Covid-19. In budget 2026 all of these have been removed with nothing indicated to replace them. That means, as others said, people with disabilities are facing higher costs and fewer supports. The DFI and others welcomed the overall increase in funding. There is the €10 increase in disability allowance but taken in the round, many incomes will fall without the permanent social protection supports. We are talking about the removal of the living alone allowance, disability support grants, electricity credits and the October double payment. All of that is retrograde.

The cost of disability is the extra spending needs that people with disabilities face in their day-to-day lives that other members of society like myself do not have to deal with. I cannot talk to anyone's experience as I have not experienced it myself. I can only take on board what constituents have said to me. I refer to mobility aids, transport, communication, care costs outside of family care, other forms of assistance, medicines, medical equipment and all sorts of appliances, including the adaptations of day-to-day appliances that are not required by people within society who do not have disabilities. I am thinking of a relative of mine who is a taxi driver and many of his clients are persons with disabilities. Oftentimes people have no choice but to get taxis because they might not be able to drive, might not have an adapted car or might not be able to afford an adapted car but also because of the basic shortage of accessible public transport. The system itself does not always get you from A to B efficiently. BusConnects said that turning an older route, which people are used to, into two routes is more efficient but not for a person in a wheelchair. Two friends in wheelchairs going out socialising in many cases have to get two separate buses because only the newer buses have the wheelchair space and the buggy space. The older ones do not have that. That is a hidden discrimination people have to face. They cannot even have normal socialising with friends if those two friends are both in wheelchairs. That is one example of a direct cost. There are also items a person has to spend their limited disposable income on that more able-bodied people never have to think about. Whatever way we look at it, the costs are there.

The Government referenced the move towards a cost-of-disability payment. If it comes in, it cannot come in soon enough. If this budget is a holding position, it is a woefully inadequate holding position. The cost of living hits people with disabilities a lot more and needs to be put on a long-term footing as soon as possible.

I think the Irish Wheelchair Association said something like "heat or eat" about the budget. The Government needs to step up or step down in this instance. It should not be either-or. People deserve a reasonable quality of life.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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I welcome this motion before the House. There is a significant cost to having a disability and for families with a person with disabilities. Indeed, the Indecon report clearly outlines that cost being in the region of €10,000 per year. In that context, I welcome the motion calling for the introduction of a cost-of-disability lump sum payment and an increase to the disability allowance. There is no question but that the Government is leaving out families and people with disabilities.

I want to speak on behalf of families and children in County Mayo under CDNT 3. It covers the region of Achill Island, Westport, Louisburgh, Ballinrobe, Killmaine and Shrule. All these families and children are about to receive a cut in their CDNT's posts. In recent days and weeks, families in this region have been fed a word salad of vague assurances, slippery phrasing and political spin. A Mayo TD, following a briefing from the HSE, told parents there would be no cuts to current hours of front-line therapy, just the removal of a vacant post, as if everything was fine. This kind of political spin is insulting to parents.

The restructuring happening in the CDNT network is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Taking vacant posts to fill other posts is deeply wrong. These families are not confused, as has been suggested. They are tired and heartbroken. They know what they are losing. They know the potential that is being lost. The removal of posts was approved on the basis of need, but removing the post does not disappear the need. It means the chance to meet that need is gone. That is what the Government is doing when it removes a vacant post.

In our region, children have waited over three years for therapy. CDNT 3 was supposed to grow to five speech and language therapists, but instead of that position being filled, the post has been removed. When I was at school, five minus one was four. That is a cut and it has been fed to families as if it were a positive thing. Parents are not confused. They are absolutely devastated. A post being vacant does not mean there is no demand. It means there is a failure in recruitment and retention in the HSE. Instead of addressing the issues of pay, terms and conditions and issues in CDNTs and addressing recruitment and retention, the Government has chosen to remove a post. I am pleading with the Minister of State not to punish the children of south and west Mayo with the loss of a post.

There is a window of opportunity for these children. They have been waiting over three years for speech and language therapy. Imagine being the mother or father of one of these children, rearing them and seeing milestones being missed. That is the reality. The windows of opportunity for these children are closing on a weekly and monthly basis and it is devastating for these families. They know the loss that will be the result of the removal of the vacant post and it is deeply wrong. It is deeply wrong for politicians, the HSE and the Minister to spin this. It is political spin to say this is a good and positive thing. We need to protect the vacant post in CDNT 3 in the west. Almost 1,000 individuals are waiting to be seen by the CDNT in our region. The vacancy of the post does not reflect an absence of need. It reflects the issues in recruitment and retention.

The HSE pay and numbers strategy should not be used to punish the families served by CDNT 3, in Louisburgh, Westport, Ballinrobe, Kilmaine, Shrule and the Neale. That is essentially what is happening. The Government is sacrificing this region because of the pay and numbers strategy. Will the Minister of State bring this back to the Cabinet? I urge the Government to protect and fill the vacant posts, address pay and terms and conditions and launch Operation Shamrock, which we have been calling for, to recruit and bring home our wonderful therapists from Australia and Canada. Let us bring them home, fill these posts, protect our children and ensure we do not let these windows of opportunity close and that they get the best start in life possible. I urge the Government to be straight with the people of Mayo and to protect these posts and the most vulnerable children in Mayo.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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I am delighted to speak on this motion, which I fully support. I particularly support the call on the Government to develop and introduce a cost-of-disability payment. We all know that the cost of living with a disability is significantly higher than the cost of living for a non-disabled person, but emotional and psychological costs also have to be borne. They are much more difficult to quantify, but they are no less real for that.

I will focus on one particular area, however, which is the ongoing issues around access to primary medical certificates. Almost two years ago, the then Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, committed in this Chamber to investigate issues relating to the difficulties faced by disabled people in securing primary medical certificates, yet nothing of substance has changed since that time, which is concerning. The primary medical certificate scheme provides relief from vehicle registration tax and VAT and is only open to severely and permanently disabled people who are drivers or passengers. To qualify for the relief, the applicant must hold a primary medical certificate issued by the local HSE board or, following an appeal, the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal. I have repeatedly highlighted this issue. I have cited the case of Mr. Digan, who contacted me. This man lost part of his left arm when it had to be amputated after he was involved in a traumatic motorcycle accident in 2019. He also suffered several broken bones in his shoulder and a brain injury. Despite his difficulties and injuries, his application for a primary medical certificate was repeatedly refused, which makes absolutely no sense. It is my understanding that approximately 1,000 people are affected by this issue. While new payments dealing with the cost of disability are right and proper, we also need to focus on fixing the schemes already in place which are supposed to help disabled people return to active employment, such as the primary medical certificate. I call for an urgent review of that matter.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion and the Government for not opposing it. All of us, on the doors and in our email inboxes, have heard and read the same stories time and again. It is a huge part of why I got involved in politics and I think that would resonate with a lot of people here. They are the shocking cases of families, young children and adults left behind by the system and of people with disabilities denied the support they deserve. That is why I welcome the increase of €620 million in disability funding in budget 2026. It is a step forward, and I thank my colleagues in the regional Independents and all members of the Government who pushed for it. It is about making disability and carers a real priority, not an afterthought, but we need to make sure this increase in money in the budget is spent well and efficiently . This is not just about figures on a page; it is about giving families and carers the support they deserve.

As I was in my office, I heard other Members speak about emails they have received and I rang a constituent who I have been working with since I entered politics as a councillor. I welcome to the Public Gallery Ciarán Delaney, my disability adviser, who has been working with me tirelessly on this case. This is the Minister of State's first year in her post and we have spoken in depth about this while she has been in her ministerial role. I hope she knows that what I am saying is not directed at her but at the current system, which I know she agrees needs to be changed. For years, Saoirse Smith, a 34-year-old wheelchair user from Clontarf who works full time in the public sector, has wanted what every citizen wants.

She wants to work, contribute to society and live with dignity and respect but since the first time I met Saoirse, that has not been the case. She is struggling and since going back to work she feels like she is being punished. Because she is in full-time employment, Saoirse has lost her full disability allowance and her mobility allowance. There was a recent article about this case in The Irish Independent. Now she fears she will lose her medical card when she gets married, I have met her future husband, as she thinks she will be means-tested as part of a couple. Her disability does not disappear because she goes to work. Now she wants to stop working. Ciarán knows this case and has been working with me on it. We should not have to work on this case. It should not even be a case. People with disabilities should not have to face the higher cost of living but they do. They face a way higher cost of living than most of us. The should not fear losing supports for medical needs, equipment and personal supports by going to work. When I was on the phone to her 30 minutes ago, Saoirse asked me to share her words:

This is supposed to be a happy time planning but it is not. I am worried about what I am going to lose.

People with disabilities and their families have been crying out for this for years and have been promised it again and again but people with disabilities cannot live on these broken promises. They need delivery. They need for these promises to be delivered. I welcome much of the strategy that was recently announced. I welcome that we dealt with a lot of DPROs. I have mentioned how one or two of the DPROs that were engaged in this strategy cannot be classified as DPROs since the UN convention. This is not what they are due to the enrolment process that they have.

Ireland has one of the lowest disabled employment rates in Europe and the gap remains among the widest. This is why we must set and meet binding targets but unless every Department and agency is held to account, these targets will just remain words.

I have seen this first-hand with my parliamentary assistant Michael who has a disability. This is his first ever job. Since entering this House on day one, he has shown the difference being included makes. He has never felt let down. He has never let his disability hold him back and I have never been let down by him. I have a huge amount to thank him for. However, when our office looked to the wage subsidy scheme to help with his disability for when he does find it difficult we were told it does not apply to Members of the Oireachtas. That is a missed opportunity. I have heard Members from both sides of the House raise the wage subsidy scheme. It is important that we look at bringing it into the Houses of the Oireachtas because it would bring more people with disabilities working right here with policymakers. It would make a huge difference. If we allowed Members to access schemes like that, we would have more people with disabilities who could work right here in Leinster House, giving them their voice at the highest level we can achieve for people with disabilities.

My time is running out. We need clear, measurable targets and for deadlines for waiting lists to be addressed. Deputy Lawless mentioned bringing back our talented therapists. I spoke about this recently and how there is a huge waiting list with Coru of those who qualified in the UK. This needs to be fast tracked. They should not have to wait 18 months or two years.

I wholly support the motion.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I want to thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this very laudable motion on the cost of disability. We all know it costs any person who had a disability more just to survive and carry on. They have a lot of issues. For people with serious disabilities respite in Kerry is practically non-existent when it is needed. We are very short of residential care places for children with intellectual and physical disabilities. I can highlight one case where a person in her thirties in serious need of residential care was offered a place in County Meath all the way from County Kerry. That is absolutely ridiculous. We are still short of respite beds on the southern side of the constituency. I had this all summer. Carers, daughters and sons caring for their elderly people who have disabilities just wanted to go on holiday for a week but there was no place for respite in any of the district or community hospitals. They were all full. People with a disability are entitled to four weeks of respite in a community hospital setting but that does not materialise. In Kerry it does not happen. We have a wonderful place, Mary of the Angels, in Beaufort, which was donated by the Doyle family many years ago. That has been closed by stealth because as people died, the beds were never filled again. I cannot understand this. At the same time, we are offered only places in Tipperary or Meath for someone who needs new residential care. It appears that they will not be left into Mary of the Angels. I cannot understand that. I ask the Minister of State to look at that. There are 40 or 50 acres of grounds that could be expanded. There could be all kinds of different respite there. It should be developed as a model for the rest of the country because the room is there to do it and the basics are there already. There are swimming pools and all the different things that are needed for people with disabilities.

One thing that hurts me very much is when I see elderly people minding their elderly disabled children. I am talking about people in their late 70s and early 80s. The question they have for me is: who is going to see after our Johnny, Mary or Julia when we are gone, because they are on their last legs? I feel for those people because they are doing their best all their lives. We should be giving them better assurance and reassurance that their children will be seen after. These children may be in their late 40s or early 50s. It is a fierce worry to their parents.

Many people are allocated home help but while they are allocated the time, nobody turns up because we are told that we do not have the home helps. There are many instances where one home help goes to the home and they cannot operate the hoist on their own. That is happening too often and it means people have to stay in bed for an extra day. That is not right because they seize up. We would all seize up if we stayed sitting down long enough. We would not move after a few days. It is important to those people that they have a routine and that they are looked after, taken out of bed and put sitting in a chair or taken to the bathroom or wherever they want to go but too often it is not happening for these people in Kerry. I am asking the Minister of State to listen to us because those people with disabilities have a role to play. They are part of us and we want to ensure that they are properly looked after.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Deputies for their contributions to the debate. I am happy to take the closing statement on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Calleary.

The Government is well aware of the additional costs faced by disabled people. I re-echo the Minister’s statement when he said he was committed within the lifetime of this Government to addressing the cost of disability in both a comprehensive and a permanent way.

Improving the position of disabled people and ensuring their full participation in society is a priority for this Government. That is why the programme for Government includes a range of commitments in this area that we will advance over the lifetime of this Government.

In his opening remarks the Minister spoke about our commitment to introducing an annual cost of disability support payment. This is incredibly important but it is just one piece of the jigsaw. Both the programme for Government and the human rights strategy for disabled people include a whole range of commitments for disabled people. We have also committed to reforming the disability allowance payment and removing anomalies in the current means test for support.

In fact, as Members will be aware, the Department of Social Protection is conducting a review of means-testing generally across its schemes. Any reforms will be guided by the outcome of this review.

The Government is committed to progressively increasing weekly disability payments. We have been doing this, including in the recent budget where we increased the personal rates, increases for qualified adults and the child support payments.

Furthermore, on a practical note, many individuals have different individual stories when it comes to their circumstances and experiences with disabilities. For example, it is important that medical assessments, when we carry them out on people who have lifelong conditions, do not happen repeatedly. The Department of Social Protection is examining the ability-to-work criteria for certain payments so that people are not subjected to the same requirements, as I said, time and time again.

In regard to employment supports, the issues facing disabled people cut across government. That is why the national human rights strategy for disabled people is a key focus. It adopts a whole-of-government approach with individual Departments and State agencies responsible for planning and delivering the commitments that come under their remit across five pillars, including employment. Speaking of a whole-of-government approach, an extra €3 million is available in the budget of my Department this year for students with disabilities.

The Department of Social Protection is the joint lead on the employment pillar together with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. In truth, many disabled people face barriers in the workplace and when looking for employment. Government wants to address those barriers and ensure there are intensive and appropriate activation measures and crucially, employment supports in place to help those most distant from the labour market into work.

The Department of Social Protection, through its nationwide network of Intreo centres, provides employment services for jobseekers, including disabled people. In particular, EmployAbility offers specialist employment services to people with disabilities. They can help people find work through their job-matching service and offer ongoing in-work support to employees and employers. There is now a designated disability employment personal adviser in each of the 62 Intreo offices. In July 2022, the Department launched Early Engagement, a scheme which proactively works with disabled people and helps them achieve their goals through the Department's employment and training supports. Of course, taking part is completely voluntary. In December 2023, a new employment programme under the European Social Fund was announced. The WorkAbility: Inclusive Pathways to Employment Programme aims to support up to 13,000 disabled people progress their training and employment ambitions through 57 local, regional and national organisations. The programme runs from January 2024 to December 2028. The Department of Social Protection also provides funding for AHEAD's GetAHEAD and Willing Able Mentoring programmes. I apologise for all of these titles but that is what they are called. The whole idea is to help people with disabilities transition from education to work. Having spoken to many people with disabilities, I know that is an absolutely crucial issue for them. The Government is also committed to expanding and building on these successful programmes.

The wage subsidy scheme was mentioned earlier. We have committed to reviewing that scheme. The recent budget has already provided for an expansion of the scheme and an increase in the payment rates.

Secondary benefits are of crucial importance as well. Fear of losing secondary benefits can be a very significant concern for people when they are considering taking up or increasing their employment. That is why it was really important that budget 2026 introduced measures whereby recipients of disability allowance or blind pension will be able to retain their fuel allowance payment for up to five years after moving into employment. There are arrangements in place for the retention of certain secondary benefits when a person moves off a disability payment, such as disability allowance or invalidity pension, into employment where they can keep their eligibility for free travel for up to five years. In addition, a person who has been in receipt of certain social welfare payments, such as disability allowance, for 12 consecutive months may retain their medical card for three years on moving into employment. Those are transition measures that are constantly called for and that people with disabilities ask for that make that transition more reasonable and bearable for those people.

In relation to the work that we are doing on the cost of disability, it is important to remember we are not starting from a blank slate. We are building on supports already available and the improvements that have been made, especially in recent years.

I thank the Deputies for bringing forward the motion, which the Government is not opposing. We are committed to introducing an annual cost of disability support payment. We will do that over the lifetime of this Government. As the Minister stated in his opening remarks, the aim is to bring forward proposals in the first half of next year so that they will be available for consideration in the budget 2027 process.

All of us in this House recognise the concerns raised by the people who live with the daily reality of disability. We all want to further enhance the supports available to them and empower them to live full and independent lives and to be able to access employment. I reiterate the transition payments that are there for them. We have done a lot to improve supports for disabled people but we all recognise that a lot more needs to be done.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to contribute. I congratulate my Sinn Féin colleagues on tabling the motion.

I have watched this debate and I will start with a quote from a family. This puts us in the picture as to the reality of it. She writes:

My name is Shauna Dunne and I am the full-time carer for my 2-year-old son Jack, and the mother of a 4 year old girl called Demi. Jack is currently awaiting an autism assessment and attends private therapy sessions...

Sometimes people don't understand the reality of being a full-time carer. They might think I'm lazy or choosing not to work, but thats far from the truth. My days and nights are long, demanding, and emotionally draining. There's very little time to rest or think about myself. Every bit of energy goes into making sure my son has what he needs, while also trying to give my daughter the love and attention she deserves.

Financially, things are tight. My partner works full-time, but with only one income and the added costs of private therapy sessions, travel to appointments, and specialist items for my son, it's difficult to stay on top of everything. The constant rising of cost of living is crucifying families like ours. I face higher household bills because I'm at home full-time, and any unexpected expense can cause real stress. Going private for an Autism Assessment is out of the question financially.

We all know the cost of disability is unseen by the people unless it affects them. There are over 24,000 people in my constituency of Cork East that have some form of disability, and the additional expenses they faced have not been recognised by the Government in the recent budget.

The average cost of having a disability in Ireland is at least €12,000 a year and if people have severe limitations, they could lose maybe 93% of their disposable income.

In rural parts of my constituency, many disabled individuals are forced to pay for taxis to attend hospital appointments. If this was not bad enough, they also have to pay for parking. Last year Cork University Hospital received an income of more than €2.3 million from car parking charges. We have already called for this to be abolished.

Affordable and accessible housing in rural areas is extremely limited. The grants are totally inadequate. The Government's attitude to families, workers and people with disabilities has been consistently out of touch and has made having a disability and being poor go hand in hand. That says a lot. I wish I had more time to speak on this but I want to mention Fraser syndrome and I ask the Minister of State to check it out. What is being done to people in this country is an absolute disgrace.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State and the Government are failing people with disabilities. The budget announced last week did nothing for them and actually made them worse off. The report the Government produced in 2021 outlined that it costs people with disabilities more to live because of the extras they need. It costs anything between €10,000 and €12,000 extra. What has the Government done to help them? The Minister of State listed out a lot of things the Government is doing. If she comes down to my constituency, I will bring her around. I will show her how people with disabilities are living and how they are struggling. Government Members speak about what they are doing but do they not know how people are suffering and how they are struggling?

At the age of 33, a very good friend of mine, Eddie Hennessy, had a massive stroke. He has had an unbelievable fightback and we see how he is now. He still has many issues. He set up his own photography company and he turned out to be brilliant. He was out the door for a couple of years with people trying to book him. However, there were no supports for disabled entrepreneurs. He presented before the Oireachtas disability committee two years ago and people were telling him he was a great bit of stuff and well done. Eddie's business is gone now and the reason it is gone is Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independent Deputies never supported him and they are still not supporting him. It is not only Eddie; it is any disabled person out there who wants to become an entrepreneur, who wants to make a difference and who wants to stand on their own two feet. All they are looking for is a little bit of help.

There are parents whose children have no school. We are in October. How is this possible in 2025? Cherishing all the children equally is a load of bollocks, God forgive me. They have no school and the Minister of State is coming in here with her big long list of what the Government is doing for them. There are three Ministers of State present and I will send each of them the names of these children and I will look for them to come back to tell me when and where they will have a school.

Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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Disabled constituents of mine feel absolutely forgotten about in this budget. They are not angered any more; they are absolutely heartbroken. Arís agus arís eile, tá an Taoiseach agus an Tánaiste tar éis seasamh sa Teach seo agus an dallamullóg a chur ar dhaoine a bhfuil míchumas orthu. D'inis siad don phobal go raibh cúrsaí míchumais mar thosaíocht dóibh i mbuiséad 2026, ach ag deireadh an lae rinneadh dearmad orthu agus theip ar an Rialtas an costas a bhaineann le míchumas a aithint.

The Government knows how much it costs to live with a disability. It has known for five years and it has done nothing. Five years ago it cost more than €10,000 so no doubt it is much more expensive today. What has the Government done? It has chosen to make disabled people worse off by €1,400 this year. This is another cold and callous slap in the face to the most vulnerable people in our society. These are people who face great added difficulty going about their daily lives because of medical conditions. They are people dealing with stigma and the emotional pain of living in a world that is not built to accommodate them.

What we call for is not even to compensate for this latter difficulty but for the material burden that falls on disabled people, through no fault of their own, to be recognised and provided for. What is the point of a social safety net if not to support people who are not in a position to provide for themselves entirely? The State certainly does not empower people with disabilities to provide for themselves in the workforce. We have the worst standing in the entirety of the EU in terms of disability employment, according to the Disability Federation of Ireland. In essence, we have created a poverty trap with disability allowance and medical cards taken away once a disabled person enters employment, despite facing huge costs relative to the able-bodied population.

Mary, a constituent of mine living with MS, told me disabled people are not looking for money for treats; they are looking for good quality shoes to help with walking, help with physiotherapy and acupuncture bills for pain management, diesel and car parking for regular medical appointments - rudaí bunúsacha, simple basic necessities for a decent quality of life, things that families with disabilities simply cannot afford. Surely those in the Government must all feel utter shame for breaking promises to disabled people.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank everyone who made a contribution to the debate. The Minister of State will agree the depth of feeling is very much evident in the Chamber. The cost-of-living crisis cuts deeper and lasts longer for people with disabilities and the Government knows this. The motion sets out an alternative to the Government's approach. The least we should expect from any decent Government is that it will not make things worse for disabled people and yet, under the budget, they will be worse off by up to €1,400.

I urge the Ministers of State to listen to the voices of our disabled citizens, act in their interests and recognise the actual cost of being and living as disabled person in this State. When disabled people turn 66 or they get a job, their primary condition and the costs associated with it do not disappear. It is still expensive. They still face additional costs. They are not disabled by themselves. They are disabled by society. They are disabled by infrastructure that does not suit their needs. They are disabled by a payment structure from the Department that will see them worse off this year. They are disabled by a Government that neither listens nor understands what they need.

I want to speak very briefly about a constituent of mine, whom I will call Paul. He is visually impaired. He is legally blind. He lost all of his disability payments at the age of 66. He got plenty of presents when he turned 66 but he did not get the gift of sight. He was disabled when he was 65 and 364 days and he woke up the next morning - happy birthday - and he is now worse off. It is this failure to understand the cliff edge that people with disabilities face. It is those on the Government benches failing to see they have the power to make their lives better. Every budget is about choices. Every decision made is a political choice. In this budget the choice was to leave people with disabilities worse off. This is why we tabled the motion. I welcome the fact the Government will not oppose it but it would be better, and the people in the Gallery know it, if the Government supported it and supported them.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.