Budget 2026 left many people disappointed, upset and angry. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, which is continuing unabated, the Government has chosen to utterly abandon the most vulnerable in society. The meagre increase of €10 to the disability payment will see people with only that payment struggle, and that is the best the Government has done since 2020. Analysis from the Irish Wheelchair Association shows that people with disabilities are €1,400 worse off after the budget and the Bill. Did the Government not consider that the withdrawal of energy credits would have an impact on everybody, but especially on people with disabilities? We know that households with a disabled person need 50% to 60% extra disposable income to achieve the same standard of living as similar households with no disabled member. The Government does not seem to care. The €10 increase will be immediately lost to food price increases and energy inflation. This is to say nothing of the significant increase in the day-to-day costs people with disabilities have no choice but to pay. Despite pre-budget analysis showing that one in five children lives in families below the poverty line and despite child poverty having doubled last year to levels last seen during the financial crash, this budget and Bill will do little to alleviate the circumstances of families who will once again be forced to choose between eating and heating this winter. Once again, carers have been left in the dark as to whether the Government ever intends to deliver on the promise to abolish the means test. Instead of a bonanza tax break for developers on apartments that have already been built, I am asking the Government to consider people with disabilities and carers first. Things could be different. The energy credits could have been retained at a time when price hikes are set to break families' backs. The Government could have meaningfully increased social welfare payments, tackled child poverty and sought to protect the most vulnerable but it did not do so. Instead, priority was given to a developer tax bonanza. This, the Minister for Social Protection's first budget, is very disappointing.

Sentiment score: -0.15