I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that there have been four major reviews and reports on the cost of disability, i.e., the additional costs to which disabilities give rise for individuals and their families, beginning with The Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities in 1996, the Indecon Report entitled "The Cost of Disability in Ireland" in 2021, the Government's failed Green Paper on the Cost of Disability in 2023, and the recent joint research project by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) "Adjusting Estimates of Poverty for the Cost of Disability" in 2025; further notes that the Government launched yet another consultation on the matter in February of this year; recognises that households in which a member has a disability undergo significant additional costs, compared to households in which no member has a disability, with the ESRI/IHREC estimating a weekly cost of €488 - €555 on average; affirms that no one in the State should be worse off socially, politically, or economically, because of their disability; condemns the choice made by the Government in Budget 2026 to withdraw emergency supports from workers and families, including, in particular, the €1,400 worth of cost-of-living supports withdrawn from disabled people this year; recognises that workers and families, including and especially those with disabilities, cannot wait until next year and Budget 2027 for supports, and that on the basis of their Budget 2026 experience they cannot trust the Government to deliver what is needed; and calls on the Government to: — immediately introduce an Emergency Budget with supports for workers and families, including a €500 lump sum for people with disabilities; and — introduce, no later than Budget 2027, a new permanent cost of disability scheme, involving weekly payments for people with disabilities, whether they are in employment or not in employment, that recognises the additional costs to which their disabilities give rise. I will be sharing my time.

Sentiment score: -0.24

I have seen that. I will get to that in a moment. The Minister should withdraw his shameful amendment, if for no other reason than because it is an insult to people with disabilities. Their voices are ignored and are entirely absent from the amendment. I have said it before and will say it again, people with disabilities are not disabled by their own bodies or their intellectual capacity. Rather, they are disabled by a society that is ablest and a society and Government that talks down to them. They are disabled by infrastructure that is hostile to their mobility. They are disabled by Government policy failing them time and time again. They are disabled because they are not listened to and the lived reality of their lives and needs is not responded to. The amendment references consultation. I want to give the Minister a bit of feedback from a person who was at his most recent summit. Gillian Sherratt, who the Minister will know, had a son Harvey who, for his short life, was one of the many children with scoliosis utterly failed by the State. She wrote that at the Minister's summit the journalists got a chance to ask questions of the Ministers but people with disabilities, disabled persons' organisation representatives, carers and advocates did not get the same opportunity. That is not fair. It is not on. Government has deployed all of its delay and deflect tactics and that is why we had to bring forward this motion. This motion calls for immediate intervention because the crisis is now. The motion takes into account the lived reality of people with disabilities and the real need for a cost of living emergency payment. The motion is about listening to people. The Minister's tone deaf amendment makes no reference to the fact that the budget left people with disabilities €1,400 worse off. He should acknowledge and face up to this and respond to the urgent pleas of disabled people who are making stark choices, whether the Minister chooses to acknowledge that. They have to use their immersions and electricity and charge their vital mobility devices. Some people need to maintain a constant temperature in the house, but cannot afford to do so. A constituent of mine in Balrothery spoke about the statement from the Taoiseach that an emergency payment is not fiscally sustainable and that people with disabilities must wait for a permanent cost of disability payment in budget 2027. She said she is writing to tell the Minister that asking disabled people to wait is what is truly unsustainable.

Sentiment score: -0.12

The Minister of State said in his contribution that one payment would not resolve anything but if you have not got any money to pay for a taxi and you need to get to an appointment, a payment makes all the difference. What we have spoken about this evening is the money people with disabilities need to live. One payment makes a difference. A more permanent payment would absolutely make a difference but if he was listening to people with disabilities, the Minister of State would understand they were struggling right now. When you are in an emergency - these are people who face an emergency every single day - one payment makes a difference. That is what people are asking for. They have an emergency now. They do not have enough money to live now. They need an emergency payment now. Nobody has said there is not a cost to disability. The Minister of State knows that there is, that the Government took €1,400 a year from people with disabilities last year, that the cost of living is rising and that this is impacting people with disabilities disproportionately. All of this he knows, and even if he did not, there is report after report that would tell him. This consultation process is dragging it out, people are being made to wait and they are being told that it is not sustainable to give them an in-cash payment now, but it is not sustainable to ask people to make those horrible choices between heating, eating and charging mobility devices. People with disabilities are used to being fobbed off and ignored but, by Jesus, they were gaslit this evening. The Minister of State should reflect on that. Do not come in here and tell people that there is not an emergency or that he thinks they can wait. They cannot wait. We do not get endless hours of speaking time in this Chamber. We use our time really carefully because we only get one chance a week. We are standing up for people with disabilities. The Minister of State is not listening and the Government is not listening. People with disabilities cannot wait. It is cruel that the Government is ignoring them.

Sentiment score: -0.14