Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-14
============================================================

Cian O'Callaghan (SD), Dublin Bay North

Does the Taoiseach recognise that disabled people are €1,400 worse off as a result of the budget and the decisions the Government made? Can he imagine what it would be like not to be able to leave your home because you cannot afford to charge your electric wheelchair or mobility aid? There are people in that situation now because the Government took away income supports and did not replace them. Of course, income supports should be permanent, not once off - there is no disagreement on that - but to take €1,400 off disabled people, not replace it and just have promises of future actions does not work for people who are forced to stay at home now because they cannot get out of their homes as they cannot charge their mobility aids or electric wheelchairs. That is the result of decisions the Government has made. It is utterly unjustifiable at a time when there are billions of euro in budget surpluses. The Government could afford to do this. It would be fiscally sustainable. The Government's decision is cruel and regressive. I will ask the Taoiseach again. Will the Government now introduce an emergency payment for disabled people? They are asking the Government to do this. It needs to happen now. They cannot wait any longer.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-14