Social Welfare Payments
Dail Éireann — 2024-04-25
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Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (SF), Cork South-Central

I agree this may have been what it was intended to do but conflating the cost of disability with severity of disability, when they are not always precisely the same thing, was a problem and there were concerns. I welcome the fact the Minister has listened in that regard but what we do not know is, and this may not be decided yet, if there is a timeline on it. The Minister referred to a broad review within the Department or across other Departments. There was a general consensus among people with disabilities and disability organisations that they wanted reform and change. This paper was not what they wanted but they do want change. That feeling is still there. The question arises what timescale we are looking at for a broader review. When do new proposals come back onto the table? Will they be co-designed with the organisations? It is also important that the Department of enterprise is part of this because we have very low levels of employment. Some of that is cultural and some of that is due to obstacles to people taking up opportunities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-04-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-04-25