Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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53. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to recognise the additional costs faced by those persons with a disability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8358/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The various illness and disability payments administered by my Department provide income support for persons who cannot earn a living because of sickness and/or disability. The schemes also provide a range of supports to encourage and assist people on long-term illness and disability payments to identify and take up available employment, training, educational and other self-development opportunities, where this is appropriate to their circumstances and wishes. These supports, therefore, make a significant contribution to the Government’s broader social inclusion goal. It is not the function of the income support system to address the additional costs associated with a disability and there are no plans to establish a cost of disability payment within the social protection system. People with disabilities are not a homogeneous group and, as such, have widely differing needs with the result that any additional costs of disability would not therefore arise to the same extent in all cases. Moreover, some costs associated with disability are addressed across schemes provided by a number of agencies such as the health service and also the Revenue Commissioners through certain tax reliefs and other supports.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.