I wish to begin by welcoming a number of representatives from different disability organisations who are in the Public Gallery with us today. I thank them for the strong and powerful contributions they just made in a briefing for all Oireachtas Members in the audiovisual room. They told us about the extreme hardship being faced by many disabled people. We heard about people who had had to stop getting their dialysis at home because they could no longer afford the electricity bills. This has a huge impact on their quality of life and well-being. We heard about people being forced to choose between heating their home and charging their electric wheelchairs and mobility aids, trapped now all winter because they cannot afford to charge their electric wheelchairs and being robbed of their independence.

The decision by the Taoiseach's Government, which slashed incomes for disabled people by up to €1,400, is cruel and regressive. This is what disabled people have had to say about these budget cuts. Saoirse said:

I am in pain constantly and I have to pay for physiotherapy because the community physiotherapy lists were too long. The physio appointments cost me €75 per session."

Gary said the only way he could feed himself was to buy food that was going out of date and reduced, cook it off and freeze it. He goes on to describe his choices as being between eating and being cold or being in the dark. Another disabled person told us that, after Christmas, they were now faced with a €500 electricity bill and they did not know how they would pay it.

This is the reality for the tens of thousands of disabled people all over the country who feel targeted and attacked by the Taoiseach's Government. They are among the most vulnerable and most at risk of poverty in our society. They face enormous additional costs running into thousands of euro every year because they have disabilities. This Government, instead of supporting them, has cut their incomes. The only thing it has to offer are platitudes. We are told a cost of disability payment is now a priority for the forthcoming budget, but if the Government acknowledges the very real costs and the need for such a payment, why did it cut the incomes of disabled people so dramatically in the budget?

What does the Taoiseach expect disabled people to live on? Fresh air and broken promises? People with disabilities just want to live full and independent lives but Government decisions are pushing more and more people into poverty. The Government loudly claims that it wants to target resources to those who need it most while at the same time quietly cutting the incomes of the most vulnerable. It is wrong, it is reprehensible and it can and must be addressed.

Thank you, Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.

The ask is very simple; it is a modest ask. Will the Government introduce an emergency €400 winter payment to disabled people and will it introduce that now?

First of all, the Deputy has made an assertion and equated the ending of the one-off cost-of-living measures that were introduced during the height of the Ukraine energy crisis and so forth with cuts. That is wrong and he knows that. That is the first assertion, premised upon which his arguments are made, that is flawed. We must embed into the permanent social protection system, employment system, transport system, education system and health system supports that are permanent for people with a disability. That is what I intend to do and that is what this Government intends to do, through the Cabinet subcommittee on disability and through the new disability unit within my Department. We are prioritising the budgetary measures towards disability and will continue to do so. The ESRI's analysis in terms of the last budget bares that out.

I accept the one-off measures had an impact right across society but it simply was not fiscally sustainable to continue with one-off measures, bottom line. However, what is sustainable is, in terms of our various budgets through social protection, education and health, creating additional and permanent resources for people with disabilities. That is what we have been doing and will continue to do.

As regards the cost of disability issue, first of all, in the budget we delivered a record 20% increase in disability services funding through the Department for children and disability, increasing that to about €3.8 billion. That is to invest in services, which is needed by any yardstick.

We have to continue that and consistently increase it over time.

We have significantly prioritised education, particularly investment in special education and special classes right across the board, higher education and independent living, particularly in terms of participation in third level education and research for students with disabilities.

On the cost of disability support payment, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, is leading this work in close partnership with disabled people, advocates and the organisations involved and will come to the Government with proposals in the first half of this year. Analysis by the ESRI and the Department of Finance confirms the impacts of the decisions we took in the budget in terms of the at risk of poverty rate across the population falling by 1.7% and the population affected by disability reducing by 3.8%. Older people felt the largest impact and then for people with disabilities, it fell by 3.8%. The measures we took in the budget had impact and they are permanent measures. That relates to social protection. There was the €20 increase in domiciliary care allowance and, as the Deputy knows, the earnings disregard for the carer's allowance for a single person and for a couple expanded.

Thank you, Taoiseach.

The disregards will continue to expand in budgets to come.

Does the Taoiseach recognise that disabled people are €1,400 worse off as a result of the budget and the decisions the Government made? Can he imagine what it would be like not to be able to leave your home because you cannot afford to charge your electric wheelchair or mobility aid? There are people in that situation now because the Government took away income supports and did not replace them. Of course, income supports should be permanent, not once off - there is no disagreement on that - but to take €1,400 off disabled people, not replace it and just have promises of future actions does not work for people who are forced to stay at home now because they cannot get out of their homes as they cannot charge their mobility aids or electric wheelchairs. That is the result of decisions the Government has made. It is utterly unjustifiable at a time when there are billions of euro in budget surpluses. The Government could afford to do this. It would be fiscally sustainable. The Government's decision is cruel and regressive. I will ask the Taoiseach again. Will the Government now introduce an emergency payment for disabled people? They are asking the Government to do this. It needs to happen now. They cannot wait any longer.

We are not restoring once-off payments across the board. We are not going to do that but we are going to continue to support, right through every area of government, supports for people with disabilities. We are going to implement the new strategy, which was agreed with advocates and organisations that advocate for people with disabilities, in consultation with the various organisations, in particular, in the fields of employment. In the field of mobility and transport, the Minister for Transport will be coming to the Government shortly with a new scheme in respect of financial supports and adaptations that is much broader than earlier schemes have been. We are working in every Department to improve the situation for people with disabilities, particularly in the areas of education, employment and health. Measures already introduced in the budget facilitate that. Broadening the income disregards for carer's allowance was one of the most significant measures this year in the budget compared to previous budgets. That will continue. We are going to do it in a sustained and consistent way that will be permanently embedded in the public expenditure system in this country.