Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-28
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Cian O'Callaghan (SD), Dublin Bay North

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I express our sympathies to the family of the late Brian O'Shea. He indeed was a gentleman.
The Government recognises the significant additional costs disabled people can face in their daily lives. Those are not my words. That is a line that the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Dara Calleary, has trotted out repeatedly since he was appointed last year. He said it again this morning, but they are only words and do not mean anything. They will not heat a single disabled person's home. The Minister said these empty words while announcing that the Government will tonight vote against the Social Democrats motion to introduce an emergency €400 winter payment for disabled people. This would be a modest first step to help disabled people get through winter until a proper cost-of-disability payment is introduced.
He then went on to say, "I do not want a misleading and dangerous message to go out that people must choose between food and heating." Could this Government possibly be any more out of touch with reality? This is what Joan Carthy from the Irish Wheelchair Association said in response to the Taoiseach's comments on Leaders' Questions a couple of weeks ago:
While the Government speaks of future plans, reviews and budgets yet to come, disabled people are already living with the consequences of inaction.
The emergency winter payment campaign exists because people are being forced to choose between heating and food, cancelling essential medical appointments, and sitting in cold homes because energy costs are unaffordable. This is not hypothetical. It is happening now.
Why is the Government claiming that what disabled people are saying is dangerous and misleading? Why is it not listening to what disabled people are trying to tell it about the real challenges they face in terms of heating and the cost of living?
The emergency measure we are proposing would cost €124 million. That amounts to just 1% of the €12.4 billion surplus from last year. Taoiseach, please do not pretend that the Government cannot afford this measure and please do not pretend that disabled people are asking for something they are not asking for. Disabled people cannot live on empty platitudes coming from the Government and they cannot pay energy bills with broken promises from the Government. This is a crisis that is affecting people's health and well-being. We are talking about disabled people in one of the world's wealthiest countries, struggling to get through winter, which is shameful.
I ask the Taoiseach to explain why the Government has made huge cuts to the incomes of disabled people. Why did it make such a cruel and heartless decision? Does the Taoiseach stand over the Minister's comments from earlier? Why is the Government not supporting the modest proposal for an emergency winter payment of €400?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-28