Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Last week, I published a Green Paper on Disability Reform and launched the associated public consultation.

The Green Paper on Disability Reform was developed as a response to commitments under the Roadmap for Social Inclusion, the Pathways to Work Strategy and the Make Work Pay Report and taking account of the Cost of Disability Report.

I would like to emphasise that this Green Paper is not a final design. It is a proposal on what the future of long-term disability payments could look like. It doesn’t claim to be the best way or the only way to change the structure of our payments. However, I believe that the proposals in the Green Paper are a good starting point for a structured discussion. I launched a public consultation on 20 September that will last until 15 December 2023.

The main proposal of the Green Paper is to move to a three-tiered Personal Support Payment, rather than the one-size-fits-all payments we currently have. This would amalgamate the current system of Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, and Blind Pension into one payment with contributory and non-contributory streams.

As you know, people with disabilities in Ireland face a higher risk of poverty and have lower employment rates than other EU countries. The tiered proposal in the Green Paper attempts to address these twin challenges. We must insulate disabled people who cannot work from poverty. For disabled people who wish to work, we need more targeted employment supports.

I want to assure the Deputy that the intention is to try and simplify and make the social welfare system work better for people with disabilities. There are no proposals to reduce anybody's payment. Rather the proposals in the green paper are about providing additional support to those who need it most.

I have already met with the various disability organisations to brief them on the Green Paper and I want to work with them to ensure we get a strong response to this public consultation.

Full details on how to make a submission as part of the public consultation are available at www.gov.ie/DisabilityPaymentsReport. I would like to invite you to encourage people with disabilities, their families and organisations for people with disabilities in your constituency to express their views on these proposals as part of the public consultation process.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.