Social Welfare Payments
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

We heard a whole pile of horror issues in the audiovisual room. In fairness, the Irish Wheelchair Association, Access for All Ireland and the Disability Federation of Ireland have done really good work in putting this idea out there and making sure that people are aware of the need for a cost-of-disability payment. The Minister obviously accepts that, given the fact that there is a review process under way. At the minute, though, we are listening to horror stories. I think it was summed up in some of the documentation provided, including the comment that, some weeks, it is a toss-up between food or bills because there is nothing left. That is just the reality that people with disabilities are living with. We all accept there is an added cost. It is all well and good speaking about how we are not going to offer one-off payments, but they previously had been getting payments of up to €1,400. That has been stripped away from them. What we need to see, and what their request is, is a €400 emergency winter cost-of-disability payment and the possibility of energy credits specifically for those on disability payments. This is all imperfect. The piece of work that has been done should have been done earlier as regards reviewing what a cost-of-disability payment should look like and who should get it. That work needs to happen as soon as possible. The fact is there needs to be a payment now for people with disabilities who are under severe pressure.

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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