I thank Deputy O'Reilly and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion on the cost of disability. I reiterate what Deputy Doherty said about the situation that Aaron Langan and Diarmuid O'Sullivan are in. The situation is that a year ago we were in the audiovisual room along with Diarmuid and his parents. Diarmuid's story is that he has DMD. His brother also has it and is on a trial which means that he has the medication while Diarmuid does not. That is serious issue. Diarmuid is up against it in the context of time. Aaron Langan is also up against it. Aaron lives in Laghy, which is ten minutes from Belleek in County Fermanagh where the relevant drug is readily available. I plead with the Minister to get something done about this. A year has passed. These children are losing time, and time is muscle. I will move on. More than 20% of the population are living with a disability. Despite making up a fifth of our population, however, those with disabilities are often left behind. In the context of accessing services, these people are three times more likely to be at risk of entering poverty. That is an absolute disgrace in this day and age. Those to whom I refer have twice the risk of developing conditions such as depression, asthma, stroke, obesity or poor oral health. According to Social Justice Ireland, two in five people with disabilities are unable to afford essentials such as heating and clothing. One in five people with disabilities lives in constant poverty. The ESRI has found that households with disabled members have a lower standard of living than those that do not have disabled members. The cost of disability is between 52% to 59% of disposable income. The average weekly household disposable income for a disabled household is around €944, which means disability costs between €488 and €550 per week. That is another mortgage for people. The Government has to take responsibility and help these people, because as people in every constituency office will confirm, we are constantly inundated. People with disabilities are €1,400 a year worse off because of the removal of essential supports in budget 2026. That is a fact. It is not surprising that the risk-of-poverty rate is much higher for disabled people compared with their able-bodied counterparts. The risk-of-poverty rate has risen to 24% for disabled people. This compares with a rate of 10% for non-disabled people. The situation is ridiculous. They are not getting equality and households with disabled members require 41% to 93% extra disposable income to meet their standard of living. When it comes to it, the significant additional costs faced by disabled people are not being met by existing social welfare programmes. We can see that through our constituency offices when we are applying for stuff and trying to help people. Numerous studies have shown that costs are continuing to rise significantly. We need to step up as a State. We need to promote equality and help people. In particular, we need to step up to support disabled people who have been impacted by living houses built using defective concrete. Can the Members imagine having a disability and living in such a home? The costs to run the home are already astronomical because of the structural failures involved. People may have equipment that they need to bolt to the wall but they cannot do so. I deal with these people every day of the week and am trying my best to help them. We tell them that help is coming and that the has said that it is going to help. However, they have been left waiting time and again. It is significant that they feel desperate in their circumstances and in extremely poor conditions in which they live. As we move forward, the Government needs to start engaging with people who have disabilities and who live in defective concrete homes. Those people need to be heard. They need to feel that they have a voice. They feel that they do not have a voice and that they are not being listened to. It is bad enough having a disability, but imagine having a disability and being stuck in a home that is crumbling around you. These people are not going to be able to afford to move. Their mental health is down the drain, and we are not talking about one, two or three people. I have had five, six, seven or eight people come into my office since the day I was elected, and I am representing them. The Government needs to take this seriously. It needs to do a study on people with disabilities who are living in defective concrete homes, because they are not being treated properly. Their human rights are being violated. They have been violated for far too long. They have not been given the opportunity to be listened to. I plead with the Minister to start engaging with the families of people with disabilities who are living in defective concrete homes over the next few months.

Sentiment score: -0.05