Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Higgins for raising this matter.As she knows, the Indecon report has been published. To be fair, we do not always need reports to do good work. I will tell the House about the relevant matters that are in the current budget. In particular, we targeted carers and people with disabilities. The capital and savings disregard for the carer's allowance will increase from €20,000 to €50,000 from January. Weekly income disregard for carer's allowance will increase to €350 per week for a single carer and €750 for a carer with a spouse or partner. The domiciliary care allowance will continue to be paid for children who go into hospital for up to six months. The current limit is three months. That is a way to support parents at a very difficult time when their children are in hospital.

The wage subsidy paid to employers who employ people with a disability will increase from €5.30 to €6.30 an hour, which will bring it in line with the minimum wage. A change in the means band will benefit people receiving disability allowance at a reduced rate. The EmployAbility service, the employment and recruitment services for people with disabilities, will now provide grants directly to those who qualify. There has been a focus on people with disabilities in the budget. I will continue that focus. We cannot do everything in one budget but we will continue to try to increase the supports that are available to people.

It took a while to compile the report because there was an enormous body of work involved. The survey involved 4,000 people. That is a big survey by any standards. The report stated that people have different levels of disability. I want to ensure that those who are most severely impacted get the most support. I think we would all agree on that.

The report has gone to the national disability inclusion strategy steering group. I have already addressed the steering group, which is chaired by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. I met the steering group this week, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman. The steering group will consider the report. I also committed in the Dáil to examining the blind pension and the disability allowance. The question is whether we need two payments or should we be making one payment because people have different circumstances. The steering group will also look at that issue. The Senator can see that consideration will be given to this report and to some of its findings in the next budget. I was happy we were able to make meaningful changes this year.