Last year, I had Maurice Noonan and Eilish Sheehy up from Limerick. Both are wheelchair users. They were looking for the simplest of things, namely access to buildings in order that they can have a normal life. Both of these people work. When we look at the measures taken in the budget, we can see that: the disability support grant was removed, resulting in a loss of €400; the living alone allowance was removed, resulting in a loss of €200; the fuel allowance was reduced to €160; the October double payment was removed, resulting in a loss of €254; and electricity credit was removed, resulting in a €250 loss. The total amount of those losses is €1,404. This is outside of the impact of cost-of-living increases. The loss in question affects for people with disabilities who work and those who do not work. The Government reduced the USC but never changed the tax base. This means that people who are working are paying more tax. That is for everyone, whether they have a disability or not. People are paying more tax at a time when there are overruns in the HSE and in the various Departments. There are billions of euro in overruns, but the Government cannot provide for those who are the most vulnerable. The people I know who have disabilities, whether they are working or not, want to be looked at as ordinary people, but they also want equality from a work perspective and from a quality of life perspective. This means that if they go out, they want equality. Yet, the Government has done what I have just outlined. This is not what Irish people were ever about. We look after everyone, but we are not looking after people with disabilities or the elderly. All the things that we have worked for all our lives have been ignored by the Government. I put it to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, that we need to make sure this is addressed, and quickly.

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