Richard Boyd Barrett: Slams Budget Cuts to People with Disabilities
Richard Boyd Barrett condemned cuts in the recent budget that removed €1,400 from people with disabilities and criticised generous R&D tax credit handouts to profitable companies. He urged mobilisation for a co‑organised 28 February demonstration and demanded a €400 emergency payment and a cost-of-disability payment to address additional costs and energy poverty.
Budget cuts and corporate tax breaks
Richard Boyd Barrett described the budget decision as despicable, saying people with disabilities lost €1,400 while the government provided massive additional handouts to profitable companies through the R&D tax credit. He argued this reflects the priorities of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their supposedly independent allies.
Planned protest and coalition support
He reported that the disability community is very angry and is co‑organising a demonstration on 28 February with the Cost of Living Coalition, with involvement from opposition parties, trade unions, unemployed organisations and other civil society groups. He urged people affected and those who are furious about the budget cuts to mobilise in large numbers.
Demands from the disability community
Boyd Barrett said the motions mirror the disability community’s own demands, including an emergency payment of €400 and a permanent cost-of-disability payment. He commended the Social Democrats for bringing the proposal forward and noted that he and People for Profit have long advocated recognising the additional disability costs, which he cited as about €12,000 to €15,000 a year.
Energy poverty and criticism of the minister
He took issue with the minister’s warning against claims of a trade-off between eating and heating, calling that statement outrageous. He said roughly half a million households suffer energy poverty and that people with disabilities are disproportionately affected, often forced to turn off heating because of extra costs.
Calls to government for reversal and equality
Richard Boyd Barrett demanded the government reverse what he called disgraceful attacks on disability incomes, recognise the right of people with disabilities to real equality, and introduce a cost-of-disability payment to enable equal participation in society. He warned the government it faces a storm if it does not meet these demands.
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Yeah, it really is despicable that the people with disabilities lost €1,400 in the last budget to hit the most vulnerable in that way, while at the same time giving massive additional handouts to some of the most profitable companies in the world in the form of the R&D tax credit. It says everything you need to know about the priorities of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their supposedly independent allies. Now, the disability community are very, very angry and they are taking to the streets in a co-organised demonstration on the 28th of February with the Cost of Living Coalition, which any of the opposition parties are involved in, trade unions, unemployed organisations, a range of civil society organisations. And I really urge people who are furious, rightly furious, about what has been done to people with disabilities by this government to get out on the streets in large numbers and mobilise and demand, and really what's in these motions are a reflection of what the disability community themselves are fighting for, and I shall commend the Social Democrats indeed for putting this forward. But these, as I'm sure they will be the first to acknowledge, are the demands that are being made by the disability community themselves, which is that they are demanding, and they are very angry, I just want to get it across to the government, you're facing a storm, if you don't meet these demands. I mean, they have insisted to us that there is a protest. It's not that we're suggesting to them there's a protest, they are demanding a protest, they're going to mobilise, and I hope it's a massive protest to send a message to this government that they want the emergency payment, 400 euros, absolute pittance compared to the giveaways that you've given to developers and to the big, obscenely profitable multinationals in this country, and that there is a cost of disability payment, something we and People for Profit have been advocating for many years now at this stage, which is in recognition of the additional costs of disability, which are enormous, and which are, you know, evidence-based. It's not that, you know, people with disabilities aren't making this up. I also just want to take to task, and I want to credit Louise O'Reilly, because she pointed it out to me outside from our colleagues, one of my colleagues in Sinn Féin, but she said in the Minister's speech, he said that, he said that the opposition should be careful about using inflammatory suggestions like that there is a trade-off between eating and heating. I mean, what flippant planet is the Minister living in that he would say that? It's absolutely outrageous. Does he know that there are about half a million households in this country are suffering from energy poverty, and that people with disabilities suffer disproportionately from those things? This isn't rhetoric from the opposition. These are evidence-based assertions about the fact, and it's something that any TD who's in any way in touch with people in their area, talk to people with disabilities, know that people turn off people on lower incomes, and people with disabilities, because of all the additional costs they have, which amount to about €12,000 to €15,000 a year, are disproportionately hit by energy poverty. So it is a very real choice for people with disabilities to have to make decisions to turn off the easing, otherwise they won't have enough to pay for the groceries in the week, or to pay for other bills. So that's just an extraordinary statement by the government. So do the right thing, reverse the disgraceful attacks on the incomes of those with disabilities that you instigated in the budget, and finally recognise the right of people with disabilities to have real equality, and real equality means giving them a cost of disability payment to allow people with disabilities to participate equally in our society. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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