Budget was missed opportunity to provide disabled people with meaningful help

Sir. – Since the general election in 2024 this Government has positioned itself as a champion of the disability and caring community, yet its actions do not reflect this.

After a year of protesting against disability poverty and the cliff-edge removal of the additional supports, the Irish Wheelchair Association, the Disability Federation of Ireland and Access For All Ireland held their collective breath on the announcement of a permanent cost of disability payment in the recent budget.

To say we were disappointed is an understatement.

Yes, we welcome a new permanent payment linked to the cost of disability, but at €500 it is €9,500 less than the lowest figure proposed in its own Indecon report on the additional costs of living with a disability in Ireland from 2021.

That official Government report stated a person with a disability needed an additional €10,000 to €15,000 above their nondisabled family and friends just to get by. We are not even close to that.

With winter approaching and the disability community needing warmer homes for their health and wellbeing, we will now see the community fall further into poverty and despair.

It seems no matter how much we protest against this gross inequality the Government continues to look the other way and ignore our pleas for help.

Once again, it proves to us that we really do not matter. – Yours, etc,

BERNARD MULVANY,

Marino,

Dublin 3.

Sir, – We are working disabled people who pay tax and contribute to our communities. When the Government announced a €500 cost of disability payment, it left us with a difficult question: why are working disabled people being left out?

We welcome the recognition that disability brings additional costs. But those costs do not disappear when you go to work. Wheelchair maintenance, specialist transport, adaptive equipment, accessible accommodation, assistance and electricity are exorbitant ongoing expenses for us. They are part of our everyday lives, not occasional costs we can avoid.

We have to manage these additional expenses on top of the costs of living everyone is experiencing. Being employed does not reduce these costs or mean that our disabilities are less.

Yet the announced payment is directed at people receiving qualifying long-term disability payments through the social welfare system. Disabled people who work and pay tax are excluded, despite facing many of the same financial pressures.

We believe this is fundamentally unfair. Employment must be encouraged and supported, not become a reason to miss out on help with the additional costs of disability.

We are calling on Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers to meet us and for a cost of disability tax credit of just €500 in 2027 for working disabled people, equivalent in value to the payment announced by the Government.

This would be a practical step towards ensuring that disabled people are recognised and supported whether they are in employment or receiving social welfare.

The Government has acknowledged that disability comes at a cost. Now it must ensure its response does not leave working disabled people behind.

We want to continue working, contributing and living as independently as possible. We should not be financially disadvantaged for doing so. – Yours, etc,

ANN MARIE FLANAGAN,

Clare.

BRIAN DALTON,

Dublin.

JAMES CAWLEY,

Longford.

MAGS LYNCHEHAUN,

Mayo.