This morning, the Taoiseach opened a cost-of-disability summit. Immediately prior to him doing so, the Minister for Social Protection was on “Morning Ireland” and refused to commit to a cost-of-disability payment in the forthcoming budget. Over the past month, the Government refused to introduce targeted energy credits that would benefit people with disabilities. Earlier this year, it refused to support my motion for an emergency payment for people with disabilities. In that debate, the Minister for Social Protection refused to acknowledge the lived experience of people with disabilities choosing between heating and eating. Shockingly, in an appalling act of cruelty, the Government cut the incomes of disabled people by €1,400 in the budget. It has been 30 years since a cost-of-disability payment was first mooted. Will the Government commit to its introduction in the forthcoming budget?

If you go back over the past two to three years, you will see that there has been exponential growth in various payments right across the board, including the disability allowance. That growth was higher than anything in the preceding years. That is the reality. In terms of the cost-of-disability payment, it has to be defined and worked through. There is a lot of detail is involved in this; it is not just a matter of saying that we should do it this way or that way. There are issues around definitions, who benefits and so on. Meanwhile, we did increase the domiciliary care allowance by €20 again this year. We did the same last year. Disability allowance core payments went up substantially as well. The whole process is about arriving at a situation where we can develop a proposal. The Minister will have a proposal in July on foot of the consultation process that is taking place. That will then be fed into the Estimates negotiations for the budget.

The Minister has to respect the negotiations that will ensue for the Estimates for next year for his Department but also all other Government Departments-----

I call Deputy Seamus Healy. The time is up Taoiseach. Deputy Healy is on his feet.