Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1791. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if organisations (details supplied) are to be excluded from his Department's pre-budget forum in July as they were in 2024; and his views on whether it is wise or sustainable to ignore the only disabled persons’ representative organisations specific to physical impairment and visual impairment, respectively, in the country. [41743/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I was delighted to attend my first pre-budget forum on 17th July last. It is an excellent event where NGOs, employer and employee representative groups attended to discuss their priorities for the forthcoming social protection Budget. It is an outreach event that my Department have organised for over 20 years.

The organisations invited cover as wide a representation as possible - for example the Society of St Vincent De Paul have a footprint in every town and underprivileged suburb in Ireland. ICTU are invited rather than every individual trade union and the National Disability Federation and Vision Ireland (formerly NCBI) are invited to represent people with disabilities including vision impairments.