Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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127. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will consider the introduction of a cost of disability allowance or supplement to address the additional living expenses faced by people with disabilities; and if he will outline any plans to increase existing disability payments to meet minimum essential living standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24809/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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This Government recognises the additional costs associated with having a disability and is committed to improving outcomes for disabled people.

In the Programme for Government, we have committed to introducing a permanent Annual Cost of Disability Support Payment and, to progressively increase weekly Disability Payments.

This will build on progress made over the last number of years, where we took steps to recognise the additional costs associated with having a disability. In the last three Budgets we brought forward an extensive range of cost of living measures to support people with disabilities and their families. Budget 2025 included:

• October 2024 cost of living bonus for people in receipt of a long term weekly social welfare payment.
• €400 cost of living lump sum payment for people in receipt of Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension and Blind Pension, paid in November 2024.
• €300 cost of living lump sum payment to all households getting Fuel Allowance, paid in November 2024.
• €200 cost of living lump sum payment to people who are getting a Living Alone Increase, paid in November 2024.
• €100 cost of living lump sum payment for people getting a Child Support Payment, paid for each qualified child in November 2024.
• Christmas bonus to all persons in receipt of a long-term disability payment paid in December 2024.
• €12 increase in the maximum personal rate of weekly disability payments from January 2025. There are proportionate increases for people on a reduced rate.
• Weekly rates of Child Support Payment increased by €8 to €62 for those aged 12 and over, and by €4 to €50 for under 12s in January 2025.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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129. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will provide an assessment of the extent to which current supports such as the household benefits package, fuel allowance, and free travel scheme alleviate the additional living costs incurred by people with disabilities; and if he will outline any plans to expand or enhance these supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24811/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Ancillary benefits such as the Household Benefits Package, Fuel Allowance, and Free Travel, with a combined budget of over €800 million in 2025, provide significant support to people with disabilities to cover household and transport costs.

The Household Benefits package and Fuel Allowance payment provides much needed assistance to qualifying household with their energy costs. Both schemes are specifically targeted at vulnerable cohorts such as people with disabilities.

Households in receipt of the Fuel Allowance payment may also qualify for the Warm Homes Scheme which provides fully funded energy upgrades to homeowners resulting in reduced energy bills.

The Free Travel Scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme and ensure older people and people with disabilities remain active within their community by providing access to existing public and private transport routes.

As part of Budget 2024, access to the Free Travel Pass was expanded to support people who are medically certified as unable to drive for a period of 12 months or longer. There is no requirement that a person must be in receipt of a Social Welfare payment in order to qualify for a Free Travel Pass on these medical grounds, provided the other qualifying criteria are met. Furthermore, as part of the “Make Work Pay” initiative persons who moves directly from certain long term social protection schemes to employment are entitled to retain their Free Travel entitlement for a further period of 5 years, where they previously had the entitlement to free travel on the scheme.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to examine key ancillary benefits such as the fuel allowance, household benefits package and living alone allowance to support vulnerable groups. This is an ongoing activity as part of the Department's budget planning each year and I will continue, as part of the budget planning process, to consider if improvements can be made to ensure that these benefits continue to target vulnerable cohorts. Any future decisions will, of course, have to take account of the availability of financial resources.

While the supports provided by my Department may be sufficient for many people with disabilities, I understand however that there will always be exceptional cases and it is for this reason that my department provides Additional Needs Payments as part of the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme. My department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income or other personal and household resources. These payments are income tested and are available through our Community Welfare Officers.

Any person who considers that they may have an entitlement to an Additional Needs Payment is encouraged to contact their local community welfare service. There is a National Community Welfare Contact Centre in place - 0818-607080 - which will direct callers to the appropriate office. In addition, applications can be made online via www.mywelfare.ie.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.