Views on the value of cost-of-disability payments are being sought from the public in a consultation beginning on Friday.
The Department of Social Protection, the lead department on the initiative, is urging “all interested parties to share their views on the design” of such a payment in advance of a “network summit” in May.
It is widely recognised that disabled people incur additional costs due to their disability, and their families often face additional expenditure for items such as heating, healthcare, equipment, transport, communications and special diets.
The current disability allowance is means tested and worth a maximum of €254 a week.
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A 2021 Indecon report estimated additional annual costs for disabled people ranged from roughly €8,700 to over €12,300. The figures would be higher today.
Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary has named addressing exclusion and poverty among disabled people as a priority. The programme for Government commits to introducing a permanent cost of disability support payment.
The consultation comes almost two years after Calleary’s predecessor Heather Humphreys withdrew a green paper on a proposed tiered disability payment following intense pushback by disabled people. It proposed categorising disabled people according to their assessed capacity to take up employment, with tiered payments according to how disabled they were found to be.
Announcing the consultation on Friday, Calleary said he wanted to encourage “all stakeholders, including disabled people, their families and carers, their representative groups, and disabled people’s organisations to contribute.”
“Improving outcomes for disabled people is a top priority for the Government. Consultation with disabled people is hugely important to ensure that their voices remain central to the development of this payment and to identifying other cross-Government ways to address the cost of disability in a meaningful and sustainable way.”
The summit, in Dublin on May 13th, will be chaired by Calleary and include discussions on the costs of disability, the purpose of a cost-of-disability payment, how such a payment might work, how it might be introduced and where the cost of disability can be addressed across other Government departments.
The consultation gets underway as several disabled people’s organisations prepare to protest next weekend as part of their campaign for a €400 emergency winter payment for disabled people.
The protest in Dublin on Saturday 28th is organised by the Irish Wheelchair association, Disability Federation of Ireland and Access for All, and is supported by the Senior Citizens Parliament and Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn.
[ Ireland has one of the lowest rates of employment among disabled people in EuropeOpens in new window ]
