Seamus Healy demands emergency budget for people with disabilities
Seamus Healy challenges the Minister over a 30-year delay on a cost of disability payment and calls for an immediate emergency budget including at least a €500 lump sum for people with disabilities. He presents data on poverty, the weekly extra cost of disability, barriers to employment, housing pressures and the impact of withdrawn cost-of-living supports.
Decades of delay
Seamus Healy catalogues a string of reports and consultations dating back to 1996 and asks why, after decades of study, there has been no decisive policy action on the cost of disability payment. He highlights the repeated reviews - the Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities (1996), the Indicon report (2021), a Green Paper (2023), ESRI/IHREC work (2025) and the latest consultation in February - to argue that delay has become unacceptable.
Economic impact and living standards
Healy sets out stark statistics: a poverty rate for people with a disability of 24%, additional household disability costs estimated between 488 and 555 euros per week, and disability costs amounting to 52-57% of disposable income. He argues these figures, combined with the withdrawal of 2026 cost-of-living supports, have left families unable to meet day-to-day needs.
Barriers to work, means testing and housing
The address details barriers to employment including lack of personal assistance, equipment, personalised budgets and the real fear of losing entitlements such as the medical card. Healy criticises strict means testing - noting nearly 43% of initial refusals overturned on appeal - and points to thousands of adults with disabilities still living with elderly parents as a sign of housing failure.
A call for an emergency budget
Healy urges the Government to use the announced €9.2 billion budget surplus to deliver immediate relief. He calls specifically for an emergency budget now, including a lump sum of at least €500 for people with disabilities and tailored supports for families, arguing that people need help now, not next year.
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Minister, we are exhausted by the number of reports and reviews and investigations into the cost of disabilities for individuals. With the Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities in 1996, we had the Indicon report on the cost of disability in Ireland in 2021, we had a Green Paper on the cost of disability in 2023, we had an ESRI joint report with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in 2025, and now in February of this year we have another consultation. So we are waiting over 30 years for a decision, and you would have to wonder whether a decision will ever be made, or whether there will ever be a cost of disability payment for persons with a disability. This extraordinary delay Minister has left disabled persons with a totally inadequate standard of living. The poverty rate for persons with a disability is 24%, more than 2.5 times the rest of the population. And as you well know, the cost of disability is between 52 and 57% of a household's disposable income. The additional cost is estimated to be anything from 488 euros to 555 euros per week. And on top of that, Minister, Ireland has one of the lowest rates of disability employment in Europe. And there are huge barriers to employment for persons with disability. Things like the lack of personal assistance, the lack of equipment like electric wheelchairs, the lack of personalised budgets, and of course the fear of loss of benefits is another huge barrier to employment. And the losses could include a medical card, a fuel allowance, the complete loss of your disability payment or a reduction in your disability payment, the loss of your free travel card. In other EU countries, Minister, disabled people don't lose disability entitlements when they work. And I think probably the biggest fear and the biggest barrier to working is the loss of the medical card. Medical need should decide an entitlement to a medical card and not the income. And because of the limited nature of income disregards, people with disabilities, if they work at all, tend to do so in low paid and part time employments. In relation to the approval for disability allowance, the strict mean testing and cliff edge nature of the limits exclude many persons who would otherwise qualify for this payment. And persons applying for the allowance are often means tested against their spouse or partner's income, which of course is very problematic. Also, Minister, thousands of applicants are refused on the initial application, only to have that overturned in 43%, almost one in every two cases overturned on appeal. And I think the costs of means testing should be assessed and consideration must be given to a move to universal payments. Housing, Minister, is another huge difficulty for people with disabilities. Many continue to live at home with parents, and parents often are carers and care into their later years, into their 70s, 80s and 90s. There are something like 2,065 adults with a disability living with parents who are over the age of 70 years. 500 of these live with parents who are over 80 years of age. And of course, the cost of living crisis has severely impacted people with disabilities. It's literally heating or eating, or charging your electric heater or heating. And the cost of home heating is gone through the roof with no reduction whatsoever. Significant number of people with disabilities are part of the 317,000 families in arrears of electricity bills and 185,000 of families in arrears of their gas bills. And Minister, as you well know, the cost of food has absolutely spiralled out of control over the last number of years. Over the last five years, milk is up 43%, butter 42%, cheese 28%, diced beef 48%, chicken up 33%, beef 32%, lamb up 52%. And on top of all that, your government withdrew all cost of living supports in the 2026 budget, hitting workers, families and peoples with disabilities very hard. Families are being put to the pin of their collar to make ends meet, and they can't wait for next year's budget. They're in trouble now and they need help now. And we need an emergency budget, Minister, including a range of supports for families and for people with disabilities. And that must include at least a lump sum of €500. And the money is available, Minister, you know that. The budget surplus this year will be €9.2 billion. You increased it two or three weeks ago from €5 billion to €9.2 billion. So the money is available. Bring in an emergency budget and do the right thing, Minister. Thank you.
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