Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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76. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection what engagement she has had with disability groups in relation to the recent green paper on disability supports. [46394/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Green Paper on Disability Reform is my Department's response to our commitment under the Roadmap for Social Inclusion to develop and consult on proposals to restructure long-term disability payments and to simplify the system.

The Green Paper is a consultation document we developed to start a structured discussion with disabled people and stakeholder groups on what the future of long-term disability payments could look like. It is not a final reform design. The Green Paper is intended to invite discussion, debate and suggestions.

Nobody will lose their payment or have their payment reduced. We want to increase people’s payments or provide more employment supports for those who can and want to work.

Based on a conservative estimate, the Green Paper proposals, if introduced, would increase spending by more than €130 million per year.

I am very mindful of our commitment in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to consult closely with and actively involve disabled people and their representative groups in changes to policies and services that will impact them.

I briefed a number of disability groups and Disabled Persons' Organisations before launching the Green Paper and consultation in September. Last week we held a consultation event with stakeholders to discuss the proposals in the paper in more depth.

In addition, a number of public consultation events are taking place in Dublin Castle on 9 November, in Cork on 14 November and in Athlone on 23 November. We hope that disability groups, Disabled Persons' Organisations and members of the public will attend these events and share their views with us on the proposals. Depending on demand, my Department is happy to add more locations and more consultation events. My officials are also planning meetings with individual groups over the coming weeks.

It is essential that we hear from as many disabled people and representatives as possible. I can assure everyone that their voices will be heard. I engaged in similar consultations on pay-related benefit and pensions auto-enrolment which led to the revision of some key features. The same will apply here.

Individuals and groups are welcome to make a submissions until 15 December. They can do this in writing or by video in Irish Sign Language through our web page. My department has already received over 120 submissions from individuals which will feed into the final reform design.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the consistently high poverty rates among people who are unable to work due to a disability, as reported in the CSO’s 2022 Survey on Income and Living Conditions.

My department provides income supports to 220,000 people who cannot work due to a long-term illness or disability. The two main long-term payments are Disability Allowance and Invalidity Pension.

I am committed to addressing the challenges that people with disabilities face and improving their outcomes. In Budget 2024, I introduced a number of measures to assist people with disabilities:

• a €400 once-off payment for Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, Invalidity Pension and Carer’s Support Grant recipients in November 2023 to address the high cost of living.
• a Christmas Bonus double payment to all persons getting a long-term disability payment.
• a January Cost of Living Bonus double payment to all persons getting a long-term disability payment.
• increase in the maximum personal rate of weekly disability payments by €12 from January 2024.
• expanded eligibility for Free Travel to those medically certified as unfit to drive.