Social Welfare Payments
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

We are currently providing 231,000 people across the country with a disability income support payment, with an expenditure of €3.24 billion in 2025. There are a number of significant measures in budget 2026. We have included a €10 increase in the weekly rate of payment, which would bring the personal rate of payment to €254 per week from this month. That is a €51 increase to weekly income support payments since budget 2021. There have been the highest ever increases in the child support payment, with an increase of €16 to €78 for children aged 12 or over and of €8 to €58 for children under 12. There has been a €20 increase in the rate of domiciliary care allowance, bringing that rate to €380 per month from 1 January. We have also made changes to those moving from disability allowance to take up work so that they will be allowed to retain the fuel allowance payment. The budget 2026 allocation of €3.8 billion for the Department of Children, Disability and Equality for disability services in 2026 represents another significant investment.
We are prioritising the work on a permanent cost-of-disability payment. I look forward to views from across the House as to who should get that and what the rate should be. The work on that is already under way.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15