Last year’s budget was an opportunity to ease cost pressures on people with disabilities, but instead of providing them with support, the Government chose to abandon them and withdraw payments, which meant that they were worse off by €1,400. The Government has ignored the pleas from people with disabilities who told it they were having to make the most difficult of decisions, such as having to choose between heating and eating. Once again, people with disabilities have been told to wait. Altogether, there have been four major reviews and reports on the cost of disability, and another consultation was launched in February. Disabled people face significant additional and unavoidable costs every single day. It is estimated that they face weekly additional costs of between €488 and €555 on average. These costs include higher electricity and heating bills as well as the cost of equipment, transport, personal assistance, assistive technology and everyday adaptions that they need to simply live, work, study and participate in our communities. They have not been supported and they have suffered as a result of rising costs in energy, housing and transport in addition to the increased costs associated with their disabilities. In the words of one person who contacted me: These extra costs are not lifestyle choices. They are not luxuries. They are the price of survival and participation in a society that is still not fully accessible for me. This reality is why we have brought this motion forward tonight. The Government’s amendment to our motion demonstrates just how out of touch it is with the lived realities that people with disabilities face. It is telling people with disabilities to try to hold on until the next budget and next year when a cost-of-disability payment might be introduced. How is that going to give any person with a disability any comfort when their bills keep coming in? People need support now. Supporting people with disabilities is one of the most fundamental things that we must do as a society. I urge the Government to finally recognise the cost of disability and provide adequate financial support. No more reports and delays. There must be an emergency payment in advance of a permanent cost-of-disability payment being introduced in the next budget to help meet the real additional costs faced every day by people with disabilities.

Sentiment score: 0.03