The programme for Government commits to reforming the disability allowance and addressing anomalies in the current means test. That commitment is vital and timely. One of my constituents - a wheelchair user with spina bifida and hydrocephalus - saw her weekly payments drop from €211 to just €36 per week when her partner changed jobs for marginally better pay to help support her. Not only that, but she has now been asked to repay €52,000 in back-dated disability allowance, dating back to when she first started receiving the payment at 16 years of age. It is nothing short of shocking and completely unacceptable. A system that penalises care, compassion and effort is a system in urgent need of reform. Will the Tánaiste outline how the current review of means testing addresses cases like this and when meaningful reform can be expected?

I thank Deputy Ó Cearúil for raising this issue. He is right. Sometimes, means tests can just be mean. We have to make sure that they are fit for purpose. That is why the programme for Government specifically makes this commitment. We want to do a thorough deep dive on means tests, particularly where there are anomalies or poverty traps or they do not align with other parts of Government and societal policy and direction of travel. We made some progress in recent years in terms of people working and access to medical cards, but there is clearly much more to do. We will publish a new national disability strategy shortly. That will probably be before the recess. It is in draft form and a lot of good work has been done. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, will lead on this review, so I will ask him to revert to the Deputy with a specific timeline for the means test review.