John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister all the best in his new Department. It is a pivotal Department for those who have little room to manoeuvre and some who have no room to do so. The programme for a partnership Government stated that we support an increase in the disability benefit and allowance, the carer's benefit and allowance and the blind person's pension. A strong start needs to be made in the year ahead. People with disabilities must have an adequate income to live with dignity. Protection of basic payments does not equate to protection of basic income. The reality of living in Ireland with a disability at this time is masked very often by data-gathering that does not take into account the extra but ordinary day-to-day costs that people with disabilities face.The Minister is asking all of us to prioritise. Clearly, I prioritise disability. Of course I will do that. There is a logic to it. Disability hits where it likes, when it likes, who it likes and how it likes. We cannot divine when it happens to any family. It affects children, parents and older people. It is a major risk and contingency, dare I say it, that everybody faces and which will come to everybody's door. Therefore, there is a good business case to be made for the spread of support to develop a foundation around the issue of disability.

Encapsulated in that and mentioned by many Senators already is the issue of carers. The great majority of carers are women who stand in the line, do what has to be done and pick up the pieces. In the year ahead, I ask the Minister for an increase to the disability allowance of €20 per week and then to start working on concrete measures to deal with that cost of disability issue. That is agreed by all of the parties and think tanks going back 14 or 15 years as a real cost. It is not being underpinned and it is a loss that people and families have. These things put money in people's pockets. It leads to very fast circulation. It gives people with disabilities more autonomy and choice and can help in their participation in their local communities. I ask the Minister to consider strongly these points in relation to the upcoming budget.