Pension Provisions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-30
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

In that case, I do not know whether the Minister or Department has carried out any analysis of this area. What is the explanation for the decline in the number of recipients of invalidity pension? The number was about 55,000 in 2015, which rose to 59,000 in 2020, but the figure has fallen year on year to a low of just over 55,000 in 2024. There has been an increase of only 1% despite the population having significantly increased over ten years. The number in receipt of carer's allowance is up from 62,000 in 2015 to almost 100,000 in 2024, a 56% increase. The number in receipt of disability allowance is up from about 120,000 to close to 170,000, but the number in receipt of illness benefit has fallen. The Minister has said there is no policy of his predecessor's "I, Daniel Blake" policy, which was withdrawn and is not being implemented through the back door, in terms of targets to refuse applications or make it harder for people to access illness benefit and invalidity pension.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-30