Good morning. I will read a note on privilege and housekeeping matters before we begin. Witnesses and members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that they comply with any such directions I might make.

Members attending remotely are reminded of the constitutional requirement that to participate in public meetings, members must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex. This is due to the constitutional requirement that to participate in public meetings, members must be physically present within the confines or place where Parliament has chosen to sit. In this regard, I ask members participating via Microsoft Teams to confirm they are on the grounds of the Leinster House complex if they wish to contribute to the meeting. I remind all those in attendance to make sure their mobile phones are switched off or put on silent mode.

The meeting concerns the disability support payment and a review of the recent disability strategic focus network summit held on 13 May. The forum provided an opportunity for stakeholders to come together to discuss how the cost of disability support payment may be advanced and what the key considerations should be in that design and implementation. We look forward to the engagement with the Minister on the key takeaways from the summit and the recent public consultation on the cost of disability.

With that in mind, from the Department of Social Protection, I welcome the Minister, Deputy Dara Calleary; Ms. Dearbhaíl Nic Giolla Mhicíl, principal officer; and Ms Emma Morrissey, assistant principal officer. I invite the Minister to make his opening remarks.

Go raibh maith agat. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste as an deis a bheith anseo le haghaidh an ábhair thábhachtaigh. The Cathaoirleach has already introduced my officials. Ms. Dearbhaíl Nic Giolla Mhicíl is the principal officer in the illness and disability policy unit and Ms Emma Morrissey is the assistant principal officer on the disability policy team. I mention their colleagues as well. This is the team currently going through the over 1,100 submissions we have received on this issue. I thank them for their work.

The Government fully recognises that disabled people face unavoidable and ongoing additional costs in their daily lives. The concerns of disabled people and their family members have come through clearly in the many personal contributions we received in response to the recent public consultation process and at the strategic focus network summit on the cost of disability at the Aviva Stadium a number of weeks ago.

Improving outcomes for disabled people is a major priority for me. Our Government's determination to achieve this is reflected in the programme for Government and, in particular, in the commitment to introduce a permanent annual cost-of-disability payment.

This is also a core objective of the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. This strategy was developed with the direct involvement of disabled people, disabled persons' organisations, advocates and representative groups.

We know that addressing the cost of disability is not a question of income support alone. The delivery of, and access to, services are also key. That is acknowledged in all the research. All Departments and all agencies must work together to address the issue in a comprehensive and shared way. Disabled people and their organisations require us to work together, to remove silos and to build on the momentum that is gathering. They are very clear that while urgent cost pressures exist, it will take sustained and co-ordinated effort to see the level of change that removes the systemic and structural barriers they experience every day. That is why the dedicated unit in the Taoiseach's office is crucial to drive progress. The Taoiseach, as the committee knows, has set up a dedicated disability unit in his Department to drive that progress. Progress is also being monitored by the Cabinet committee on children, disability and education, which is chaired by the Taoiseach.

The strategic focus network summit on the cost of disability is a key commitment under the national human rights strategy. The public consultation was a key action taken before we held the summit. It ran for six weeks until 7 April. There was an exceptional response. Over 1,100 submissions were received: 87 from groups and organisations, 12 from disabled persons' organisations, DPOs, and disabled persons' representative organisations, DPROs, and four from political parties. Accessible ways to participate were widely used, with 60 submissions made over the phone, 20 by post and seven by video. I thank all those who took the time to make a submission. I hosted the strategic focus network summit on the cost of disability on 13 May. It was attended by over 150 people in person, with the same number joining online. Given its cross-government nature, it included other Departments as well as disabled people and their advocates. Representatives from DPOs, key stakeholder groups and Members of the Oireachtas, including the Cathaoirleach, Leas-Chathaoirleach and other members of the committee attended. The summit was addressed by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. The Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, also attended. I spent the entire day at the summit engaging formally and informally and speaking to those who were in attendance. I am very much aware of the changes they would like to see. The approach and the content of the summit were informed by the response to the public consultation process, with direct input from disabled persons' organisations, which helped to develop the agenda and played a key role throughout the event. The summit and the public consultation were also informed by bilateral meetings with stakeholder groups and the relevant research, including the Indecon and ESRI reports. We heard directly, informally and formally, about the lived experience of disabled people, the unavoidable costs they incur and the impact these costs have on their daily lives. I thank everyone who participated in the summit. The involvement and the contribution of all sides are needed and appreciated.

The discussions at the summit highlighted that the costs of disability are not uniform but vary significantly depending on the type and nature of a person's disability and their personal circumstances. Many costs relate to services that require measures across all sectors, including health, education, housing, energy and transport.

There was a preference among disabled people for a basic universal, non-means-tested payment made to all disabled people, supplemented by additional amounts for disabled people facing the highest costs. People were clear that the payment should not replace services. Services are needed too. Another clear message was that people did not want an additional disability assessment associated with the payment. It was proposed that where evidence of disability was in the system, that should be used. Self-declaration with checks was also proposed. There were strong calls for the payment to support work, not impede it. People spoke of how disabled people face higher costs when they work and proposed that a refundable disability tax credit could help support people to work.

The summit and the submissions made through the consultation process are helping to inform our approach in delivering on the programme for Government commitment to a payment. They are also helpful in identifying other cross-government ways to help address the cost of disability.

This is a complex issue. It is best understood by disabled people. There are, however, significant challenges and constraints within the system. Overcoming them will require policymakers and disabled people to work together to develop policies that will drive real and sustainable change. That sentiment was relayed to us consistently at the summit. That is why I committed to continuing to work collaboratively with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure we make advances in budget 2027 and in the budgets that follow. We are currently looking at pre-budget submissions. We will have our annual stakeholders' meeting at our pre-budget forum on 1 July.

A report of the summit will be published and presented to the implementation and monitoring committee, which is chaired by An Taoiseach. The report will set out the key lessons learned and will inform the next round of action plans under the strategy. It will also feed into the budget 2027 process.

It is important to note that there exists a broad range of income supports for disabled people, including disability allowance, partial capacity benefit and invalidity pension. There are currently over 232,500 recipients of disability income support payments and over 174,600 recipients of caring payments, including domiciliary care allowance. Expenditure across illness, disability and carers' schemes combined in 2026 is estimated at €6 billion, which represents an increase in expenditure of approximately 38% since 2020.

Budget 2026 provided for a €1.15 billion package of new social protection measures. It builds on the comprehensive level of support available by targeting measures aimed at supporting carers and recipients of DCA and making it easier for people with disabilities to progress into and, importantly, to stay in employment. Recipients of payments such as disability allowance received a Christmas bonus double week payment in December. We also increased the weekly personal rates of payments such as disability allowance by €10, or 4.1%. That brought the personal rates of payment to €254 per week from January, which represents a €51 increase in weekly disability income support payments since budget 2021. This equates to an additional €520 in the full year 2026.

Recipients of DA and other payments who have children have seen their weekly rates of child support payment increased by €16 to €78 for children aged 12 or over and by €8 to €58 for children under 12. These are the largest ever increases in these payments, which have increased by €48.20 and €28.20, respectively, since 2017. Where a person is in receipt of the full rate payment, this year they will receive an additional €832 per child aged 12 or over or an additional €416 per child aged under 12, over and above what they would have received in 2025 had we not provided for these increases. Approximately, 53,000 recipients of disability allowance, blind pension and invalidity pension are in receipt of a child support payment.

Rates of domiciliary care allowance, DCA, were increased by €20, bringing it to €380 per month from January 2026. This represents an additional payment of €240 per year in 2026 and an increase of over €70, or 23%, since 2022.

We also made significant changes to the carer's allowance means test in the budget. The weekly income disregard was increased by 60% from €625 to €1,000 for a single person and from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers with a spouse, a partner or a cohabitant. Since June 2022, this has amounted to cumulative increases to the disregards of €667.50 for a single carer and €1,335 for a carer who is part of couple, or an increase of just over 200%. These are the largest ever increases in the carer's allowance income disregard. As a result, even people with relatively high incomes can qualify for a carer's payment for the first time. For example, a carer in a two-adult household with an income of approximately €110,000 will still retain their full carers' payment, and even with an income of €138,000 will retain a partial payment.

We extended eligibility for fuel allowance to enable people on disability allowance or blind pension to retain the payment for five years if they take up employment and move off their primary payment. We have also extended the back to work family dividend to disability allowance or blind pension recipients with children when taking up employment. Under this scheme, a person can retain the value of their child support payment for a year, and half of its value in the second year, in respect of up to four children. These are important supports to ease the transition from welfare to work.

We also provided for a €5, or 15%, increase in the fuel allowance, bringing it to €38 per week from January 2026. This provided recipients with an additional €140 during the regular annual fuel allowance season. In addition, the €250 million energy relief package introduced in March included a four-week extension to the fuel allowance season. This means that the 470,000 households in receipt of the fuel allowance, which includes 96,000 families where the recipient is in receipt of either disability allowance, blind pension or invalidity pension, received additional support.

In addition, to the extension of fuel allowance and the back to work family dividend, the budget also included other measures to support people in taking up and remaining in employment. The wage subsidy scheme is a key disability employment support provided by my Department. It aims to encourage employers to offer substantial and sustainable employment to disabled people through a subsidy. It supports the employer to cover the costs of significantly adapting the job's tasks or role.

Budget 2026 reduced the number of bands in the wage subsidy scheme from five to three. It increased all the rates so that since April 2026, the base rate is now €7.50 per hour, up from €6.30. Where an employer employs between seven and 16 employees under the scheme, they receive a new rate of €8.50 per hour. In the case of an employer who has more than 17 employees under the scheme, the new higher rate is €10 per hour for each employee. In addition, an employer who employs 25 or more employees on the wage subsidy scheme may receive a grant of €30,000 towards the cost of employing an employment assistance officer. Up to five such posts can be funded in any one organisation. The wage subsidy scheme has also been extended to certain people already at work who acquire a disability or whose ability to work has reduced, such that their job tasks or role has to be significantly adapted by their employer.

These improvements build on other recent enhancements to this scheme. In 2024, the minimum hours requirement was reduced from 21 to 15 hours per week. In 2025, we modernised the language in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. We also increased the pool of potential employers by extending the scheme to the community and voluntary sector and to the non-commercial semi-State sector.

I am very committed to helping more disabled people access meaningful employment opportunities. I have met many disabled people who bring extraordinary skills and talents to their workplaces. I have seen how many employers across the country also recognise the valuable contribution these employees make to their businesses.

I have outlined improvements in supports in my Department but there has been a range of other improvements across Departments to support disabled people. These include an increased allocation of €3.88 billion for disability services; €130 million under the housing adaptation grants for older people and people with disabilities; an allocation of €3 billion to special education; a €25 million allocation to the transport accessibility retrofit programme; and an allocation increase of approximately €2 million to the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme fuel grant.

I am very aware that heating and energy costs are a particular concern and I will highlight the supports available in that regard before I conclude. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, a special heating supplement may, in certain circumstances, be paid to assist people who have special heating needs, for example, in the case of ill health, infirmity or a medical condition. Additional needs payments, ANPs, may also be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost where an applicant is unable to meet it out of their own resources. These payments are available to people who need them and who qualify regardless of whether they are in receipt of a social welfare payment.

In 2025, there were over 2,600 ANPs made towards household bills and heating, at a cost of almost €1.4 million. There were 692 recipients of heat supplement at end of 2025. By the end of April 2026, 1,128 additional needs payments had been made towards household bills and heating. At the end of April 2026, there were 679 recipients of heat supplement.

I again thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to discuss these issues and outline the supports available. We are very committed to introducing a cost-of-disability payment. It is my priority for budget 2027. I thank those parties here which submitted proposals to the consultation process. We are continuing to go through all of the consultations. My official just informed me we had another submission only this week, so interest in it continues to be high. I look forward to engaging with the committee over the next period.

I thank the Minister. I now invite members to discuss these matters. I remind members participating remotely to use the raise hand feature and cancel it when they have spoken. Each member will have seven minutes for back and forth. We will allow second contributions as necessary after that. I will call members as I see them indicate.

I thank the Minister and his team for being here this morning. I did not attend the summit - I was represented there by Freya from my office – but I did speak to people who were at it and I got some feedback. Frustration was expressed that there was attendance by senior politicians but there was no opportunity for people to ask questions from the floor. It was felt that would have been an important interaction. As I told the Minister before, that was a missed opportunity. There is nothing to fear from an open question-and-answer session when there are senior politicians, senior people from the disability activist community and people with disabilities in the room. I understood the purpose of the summit was to listen and get feedback but people also have questions. They did not get a chance to ask those questions and some of them left feeling quite frustrated by the experience. While it was a good idea to have the summit, the people who were there did not feel they had an opportunity to really participate. For the future, the Minister needs to take some feedback directly from the people who were there as to what their experience was. I have done that and have spoken to people who attended. It is a good idea to have a summit but not if people leave feeling frustrated. We all deal with people with disabilities and their representatives in our constituencies and in our work. The will almost uniformly say they feel ignored and sidelined. People travelled to the summit because of the opportunity it represented. One man travelled from Galway and it took him hours to get there but he left feeling that he did not have a chance to properly participate. I hope the Minister takes that on board and uses it to inform any further interactions. If he is going to offer people an opportunity to give feedback, there has to be an opportunity to ask questions. That was very much a missed opportunity.

The Minister mentioned the high cost of disability and the need for a self-declaration or a non-means-tested payment to go to people. My understanding is that the Minister is looking at the non-means-tested payment with an additional payment for those with more, which will require more significant support. We both know that people living in a household in which there is a person with a disability are at a much higher risk of poverty. Is the Minister setting a target to lift a certain percentage or number of people out of poverty through this disability payment? That is how it is done in the child poverty unit. Is he setting a target or how will it work? If there is to be a cost-of-disability payment, there surely has to be a mechanism by which it can be evaluated.

My next question is on self-declaration, which is something we all deal with in our constituency offices. There is no obligation on a doctor under the General Medical Services, GMS, contract to fill out forms for a person who needs them.

Let us specifically talk about people with disabilities. There is a medicalised model, as the Minister knows. The doctor has to sign off. There is no obligation under the GMS contract for a doctor to fill out those forms, yet there is a requirement for social welfare that forms be filled out by medical professionals. What are people supposed to do in that scenario when they are turned away? Fair play to the doctors who do it, as many do, but more and more, as people will tell the Minister, they do not know their doctor and see a different doctor every time. There is no obligation there. The solution is either that they do not have to fill out the forms, which is the self-declaration, or they have to fill out the forms but there is some way of ensuring they can access that information.

I thank the Deputy and her adviser from her office, who was there. We have had feedback that is different from that provided by the Deputy. I got her feedback previously. We have had positive feedback to the format and engagement. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste were both at the summit. They spoke but they did not rush away either. They engaged and spoke with people. I was there for the entire day. The format was designed with the disabled people's network and our Department to try and have a focus on the discussion. I can assure the Deputy that I have pages of very straight feedback. I also spoke to people who travelled. I really want to acknowledge those who travelled. It brought home the challenge of transport, with regard to getting personal assistants and so on. I spoke to people who did afterwards and they were happy that they were heard. The feedback was generally very positive but I am always open to better things.

We have made no decisions on the payment yet. I want to give the Deputy a flavour of the feedback from the summit and the submissions. We have made no decisions on self-declaration. A disability poverty target is something that I will certainly take away and we will come back to the Deputy about it. It is important that we have a measure. I will not be around but maybe some of the other people on this committee will be. It is important that this impacts and that we can measure the impact that it makes. That will certainly break into it.

The Deputy has highlighted an important matter relating to doctors, not just GPs. We are picking it up. It is getting harder to get forms signed off. We are engaging generally on the design of forms at the moment. It is important that there is a medical piece of this. The feedback was that where people have already done that piece, we do not put them through extra hoops for this new additional payment. The self-declaration is more on that point. People will have gone through various medical things already to get the disability payment and they should not have to go through extra. That is the feedback. I am not going to give the Deputy a chapter on it.

Regarding the situation in general, since the Minister made some general remarks as well as specific ones, parking the self-declaration for a moment, I raise the matter of people at the first stage of this who cannot get a doctor to fill out a form. People who are dependent on social welfare generally do not have a cushion or another source of income, so when they need money to go to the doctor, it is hard for them when they cannot access-----

Many would have access to medical cards and the support of a medical card, but getting access is often the problem.

Also paying, because the medical card does not cover it. I have had people in my office as recently as Monday, telling me they have not got one and have to get a form. It is not for social protection, but for social housing, but the same thing applies, where they have to get a doctor to fill out a HMD form 1, but the doctor will not fill it out unless they pay the doctor, but they do not have money to pay the doctor because they are on social welfare.

I will engage with the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, about that, and will come back to the committee, because there is a point there. I have come across it myself.

I thank the Minister for being here this morning and giving us the opportunity to discuss the summit and the feedback from it. I attended until lunchtime. It was a positive, powerful experience. The lady was MCing it did a phenomenal job in keeping it on time, on track and on the agenda. The various panels that participated bringing the lived experience right to the platform was absolutely representative of the room. In the round table that took place before lunchtime, we had the opportunity where we had people with lived experience, with their personal assistants, contributing, and it was great that the Minister came over and listened to the input about employment. That is what I will focus on this morning. There was a good element of it in his opening contribution about wage subsidies and how they have improved over the years. I still think that there is more to create awareness to ensure that people can participate in the workforce.

I was delighted to see how the Minister has leaned in regarding those who acquire a disability, because 80% of all people over the age of 18 who are in receipt of disability acquire it after they reach the age of 18. That means they have been in education or in the workforce and have been contributing, and life changes so badly for them, and they want to get back into the workforce. It is the pathway to return, along with the wage subsidy scheme, to make work pay for those individuals. It is great because one of the things said by the employers in IBEC a number of years ago was that the barrier was the 21 hours and reducing that to 15. People can increase it over time.

I raise the need for a cross-government approach. While I acknowledge there is a unit in the Department of the Taoiseach, it cannot all sit with the Minister either. We need the Department of enterprise to play a role here because it relates to the various elements of disability and, at the same time, getting people back into the workforce. Can the Minister tell us about the collaborative approach between him and the Department of enterprise or are there pre-conversations about budgetary requirements to get people back into work?

I thank the Senator. I always acknowledge her work on this during her time as Minister of State and since. We had a good round table. It was really interesting. There was an official from the Department of public expenditure at that round table who became the focus of all our discussions, which was good. I hope they picked it up.

There are a couple of matters relating to employment. We are way behind on disability employment in Ireland, which I am not happy with. We are working on it and it will be a priority for me in the context of the European Presidency. Without telling the committee its work programme, it might be worthwhile putting a focus on employment and disability and getting employer groups in so they can do more. They are doing a lot but they can do more. There are some fantastic examples of what is happening. Assistive technology is changing it totally. We have expanded supports for employers to include assistive technology, to give independence to people in an employment situation. We have expanded the wage subsidy scheme to involve community organisations and we all need to do more to promote it. We all have various community development companies within our constituencies and circles, many of which already, through community employment, will give people with disability an opportunity, but this gives them a chance to give people a bigger opportunity and bigger profile. We need to do that.

On the Department of enterprise, we are engaging across all Departments and we will send every Department a report from the summit. Work and employment came through. We made changes to the wage subsidy scheme. I centralised its operation into Dundalk to ensure there is consistency and that we get quicker decisions for employers. We will work with the Department of enterprise. Many other Government Departments came through on the day, including health, education and transport, which was key. I will engage with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, about transport. People's transport experiences are very different depending on whether they are in a city, town, or rural area. The associated costs are different. In a city, there is a regular bus service or train service, while in a rural area, people have to book a taxi and pay the cost of it, if they can get one.

That was very clear and was actually one theme that came through all day during the summit and in many of the submissions, namely, that transport and the transport experience were different. Even in the city situation, it is a very challenging experience in terms of getting space on and access to transport. That is one thing I took away and I will be engaging with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on that.

I thank the Minister. Transport is always the key issue, definitely in rural areas, for that element of independence. Some years ago over in the then Department of children, disability, equality and youth, it set up a disability participation fund. The whole idea was to bring out ideas as to how we could activate people and get them into employment or promote inclusion. It is managed through Rethink Ireland.

One of the key elements that keeps coming through it is about employment. Is there a thought process from the Minister or within the Department of being that enabler and asking what other innovative ways, with a small pot of funding, could be brought through? It might be done through the LEADER companies and other community development organisations to see how we could get more people in their communities actively involved and working for 12 to 15 hours.

Under pillar 2 of the human rights strategy, there is a joint group with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. The group met last week with officials. Disabled persons organisations are also included in that group and are looking at that matter. We are finalising the content of an awareness campaign for employers about the supports that are available and about what they are missing by not having people with disabilities on their team; that skill, that commitment and that passion.

We will be promoting those employers that have disabled staff and we will be having an event with an employer in a few weeks' time. I will contact that employer to ask if I can invite members of this committee to see for themselves. This is a very high-profile employer who has people with disabilities in front-facing roles. We had an event last year and it was absolutely inspiring. It would be worth the committee's while to see what can be done and we will engage with the employer today. I am very conscious that we are way behind where we need to be. We need to do more and I am open to ideas from this committee.

I meant no disrespect but I had an important Topical Issue in the Chamber and I had to leave. I heard the Minister's introductory remarks and I welcome and acknowledge the progress that has been made. The number of submissions that have been made is very impressive. It is important that there is a permanent cost of disability payment. While it is important to the Minister and his Department and he has taken the lead, it is important to other Departments as well. This is across all of the Departments. In particular, I think of transport. Many years ago when I was in the Department of Transport, I had responsibility for rural transport. Local Link is extremely important. From 7 o'clock in the morning until all hours at night, Local Link is available in rural Ireland.

This is not the Minister's brief but he is promoting this now. I believe that the Ministers responsible should look very closely at the too-restrictive regulations for primary medical certs. If we are thinking of people with disabilities, we think they have to be missing an arm or a leg. That is wrong. When the primary medical cert is rejected at local level, it goes to Dún Laoghaire. That goes on for such a long period. I do not know of many that were overturned at that level.

Of course, the other issue that has been going on for years and years is that of the motorised transport grant. It is very important to people who are living in rural Ireland. Now is the time to highlight those and ask the Minister, although it is not his responsibility, to take the lead while he is making exceptional progress on the primary cost of disability. He might take the other issues as well and when he has meetings with his colleagues, he might raise them.

We have a responsibility as well. It is not just the Minister. He needs our support and all of the support of all the parliamentary party, whether it be Senators or Deputies, to try to move these issues on. It is becoming embarrassing, it has gone on for so long. The Minister is doing his job and I want to acknowledge that and say well done.

I will not disagree with the Deputy. The primary medical cert issue is incredibly frustrating. We deal with them in our own office and it is shocking what people are put through, particularly people who do not have easy access to Dún Laoghaire. We continue to push that. I just had a very scary moment as I looked around the room and realised I was the only one in the Oireachtas when the then Minister of State, Kathleen Lynch, tried to reform the motorised transport grant. Deputy Gallagher was in the European Parliament at the time. We still have not got there. They are two very important things.

On a positive, Local Link is an exceptionally great service and is making endeavours. There are two pilots under way as part of TFI Anseo with Local Link in Achill and Killarney, which is effectively Local Link on demand. That will offer huge potential for people with disabilities in particular, in that they can call a bus on demand. I will certainly be pushing the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to expand that pilot. As I said when the Deputy had just gone back to the Chamber, the big feedback from the summit was on transport. We have a lot of work to do in that space.

I welcome the Minister and his officials. This engagement is essential for the committee. The Cathaoirleach will remember our own party, Fine Gael, had a disability conference in Galway back in the spring. The focus was all about people who were presenting with disabilities in one form or the other. Over that day, there were compelling stories told. I commend the Department on the continued investment in disabilities, but the one thing that I came away from the conference thinking was that, as much as we had done, the lack of access for some could still be a problem. There was one testimonial given where a wheelchair user wanted to gain access to a bus. Regrettably, it was not there. Nobody should be attempting to go out for the day and be confronted with no access to either a bus or a business.

The thing I am always reminded about is that for somebody who has had a disability for quite some time, the services generally follow. When somebody is incapacitated or wheelchair-bound as a consequence of a road traffic accident or an illness, it can sometimes be quite cumbersome for that person or family to be able to qualify for funding in terms of adaptation to their family home or whatever the case may be. I sincerely commend the Department on the continued investment, but we will probably never be able to do enough in terms of what it is that people are really crying out for. That is the one thing. There is a scheme I am familiar with because I was involved with Galway Rural Development before I arrived here. It is the WorkAbility scheme, which I thought was really fantastic for getting people into a workplace and supporting them during their time there.

I have a question after that bit of a spin. The Department's own briefing note highlights the major difference between the two principal pieces of research on the cost of disability. The Indecon report estimated the cost at somewhere between €9,482 and €11,734 a year. The ESRI report suggests that it is somewhere between €25,000 and €28,000 per year. What measure will the Department be using in terms of the real cost of disabilities?

I thank the Deputy. He mentioned acquired disabilities. We have expanded the wage subsidy scheme for those who acquire disabilities so as to encourage their employers and give them an opportunity to keep those people on. That is really important. I join with the Deputy in paying tribute to the WorkAbility and EmployAbility programmes that we are running in terms of disability employment.

There are 57 WorkAbility projects around the country at the moment in which 5,800 people have engaged. Of those, 1,600 people have left and 37% have gone on to employment so there is very clear link between WorkAbility and employment opportunities.

Regarding what the measure will be, our Department is only doing this on the cost side of it. There are so many others, such as transport and services, and there are many other costs. The ESRI and Indecon have different ways of approaching it. We are going to look at an income support and what we can do but we cannot do it all ourselves. The Department and I have been being very clear that while we have a role in terms of employment and the cost of disability payment, we also want to make sure that we deal with things such as transport. The Government commitment of €3.3 billion into services this year is a game-changer. We have spent a huge amount of time researching this. The consultation and the summit aimed to bring the lived reality to that research. We have received over 1,100 submissions on the consultation. We had the day of very much focusing on that lived reality to bring it to that research. Ms Nic Giolla Mhicíl and Ms Morrissey are still going through all those submissions. That is what we are going to try to bring in terms of a proposal. We are nowhere near bringing a figure on it yet.

I remind the Minister and his officials that three representative groups from the WorkAbility programme will appear before us on 24 June.

We all know that households with disabled people require 41% to 90% more disposable income to achieve the same standard of living as non-disabled households and one in five people who are unable to work due to a disability live in consistent poverty. While deprivation rates decreased for the general population in 2025, they increased for people who are unable to work due to a disability. A total of 13.6% of people who are unable to work due to a disability were unable to afford to keep their homes warm. The ESRI confirms that households, including those with people with disabilities, suffered sharper income losses in budget 2026 due to the withdrawal of supports - up to €1,400. How will these issues be addressed in this year's budget?

As I said in my opening remarks, we are very much aware of those extra costs. The whole purpose of this exercise is to ensure there is a permanent annual cost of disability payment. The words are "permanent" and "annual", so this will not vary from budget to budget. I would also point out that in budget 2026, we increased the teenage disability allowance by €10, which is a €520 increase for the full year. Those 53,000 people on disability allowance who get child support payments have a very substantial increase in terms of an additional €832 for any child aged 12 or over and €416 for any child under 12. We have increased the domiciliary care allowance by another €20. That has been increased by €70 per month since 2022. We have made changes to the carer's allowance and the fuel allowance. Budget 2026 did produce very substantial supports, but on top of those annual supports we need a permanent cost of disability payment and that is what the work is about. We are very much focused on that and making it an annual one. That is something that is dependent from budget to budge on where payments are.

In 2025, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul received a quarter of a million requests for help. Many of those people would be people with disabilities. I also agree that we must do a lot more for people with disabilities with regard to employment.

To what extent does the Department co-ordinate with the HSE, transport authorities and other agencies to deliver joined-up support for people with disabilities, particularly those with loss of vision, who face barriers in daily living, transport and accessing services? Given that the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has reported significant backlogs in processing section 40 assistance applications due to resource constraints, what additional funding or resources will be provided to ensure timely vindication of rights for people with disabilities?

We are very much focused on people with disabilities with regard to our own payments and applications. I had a good discussion earlier with Deputy O'Reilly about potential blockages there, which I am going to look at. I have a particular focus on delays to domiciliary care allowance. There were delays in applications and appeals and we have addressed those. We have moved applications for the domiciliary care allowance online and over 40% of applications come in online. We still have some difficulties there and are working on those. Deputy Wall highlighted some of those. Regarding transport, the Cabinet committee on disability chaired by the Taoiseach co-ordinates all of that. We will certainly bring that to the attention of the Department of Transport.

I thank the Minister for the summit, which I attended. It was a great day. What is the current estimated average annual cost of disability per household and how much of that cost is being met through State supports?

I will batch the questions if that is okay.

When can people with disabilities expect a dedicated cost of disability payment and can the Minister commit to a clear implementation timeline? Many disability organisations argue that existing payments are designed to address income loss, not disability-related expenses. Does the Department accept that distinction and, if so, what is being done about it? What evidence does the Department have that current disability supports adequately cover additional costs such as transport, energy, therapies, assistive technology and personal assistance? How will the Government ensure that any further cost of disability payment does not simply replace or dilute existing supports but genuinely leaves people better off? How is the Department accounting for the financial impact of service delays in its cost of disability work? Many families report waiting years for services while simultaneously facing significant out-of-pocket costs. The cost of disability has been discussed for many years. What specific barriers have prevented implementation to date and how have those barriers been overcome? If the Minister accepts that people with disabilities face unavoidable extra costs simply because they are disabled, does he also agree that failing to fully compensate for those costs leaves many citizens at a permanent financial disadvantage compared with the rest of society? I deal weekly with people with disabilities who apply for housing. They must have a doctor's certificate, which costs €70 in Portlaoise. The Minister will acknowledge that for a person with a disability, it is nearly impossible to pay €70 up front. Will the Minister talk to the Minister for Health about that?

The additional cost of a person with a disability taking up employment or being in employment, on top of the cost of disability, is also something we will have to give consideration to. We do give income supports at the moment. This payment is to address disability-related expenses. This has been floating around for an awful long time and it was in place on a temporary basis for some years. My intention is to put it place on a permanent basis. It will not all be resolved in budget 2027. There will be a process involving how we pay it, who gets it, who is entitled to it and what kinds of rules there are around it. That came through in the summit and it may take some time to work out. I am determined that we begin that process from budget 2027.

I thank the Minister for attending. I heard great things about the summit. I was not there but I have spoken to people who were there. People were very excited about it and we might have to manage expectations coming out of that. According to the ESRI in 2025, one in five people who are unable to work due to disability lives in constant poverty. We can all appreciate that consistent, long-term financial support is needed. However, the removal of one-off supports in budget 2026 was detrimental for disabled people. It did not reflect the need or the asks of that community at that moment. I know the Minister is in consultation at the moment so I hope those needs and asks will be recognised in the future.

The Disability Federation of Ireland estimated that people were €1,400 worse off after the budget. There were cuts to disability support grants, the living alone allowance and electricity credits. The Disability Federation of Ireland referred to the budget as a devastating setback for disabled people. It is important that we bridge that gap in budget 2027. When will we know the proposed rate of the annual cost-of-disability payment? Will the payment be introduced in full in budget 2027?

I thank the Senator for her remarks about the summit. All of this is subject to budget engagement with the Department of public expenditure and reform, and the Minister, Deputy Chambers. We are still working through what the payment will look like. The Senator spoke about one-off payments. My intention is to make this a permanent payment. It will not be one-off any more.

I reiterate that we increased disability allowance by €10 per week, or €520 per year, for the 53,000 people who are on the allowance. For those who have children, their weekly child support payment increased by €832 per year for a child aged 12 and over and by €416 per year for a child aged 12 and under. There was no cut in the living alone allowance. The fuel allowance was increased by €5 a week and extended for four weeks at the beginning of May. There was no cut in any of the permanent payments. We will continue to pay additional needs payments to people. There is €58 million available for additional needs payments this year. It is a demand-led scheme with no budget cap, so there is support there. It is my intention, as I said, to have a cost-of-disability payment and it is a budget priority for me and my Department for budget 2027. In relation to when it will be paid and announced, all will be revealed on 6 October.

It is good to see the recognition of a disability payment that is truly universal, and I welcome that the Minister is developing this with the mindset of supporting those who are working. He suggested in his briefing document that there was talk about tax credits. Is he committing to looking at disability tax credits to support people with disabilities who are working?

That has come through as part of the submissions and came through very strongly on the day of the summit. Not enough attention is given to the extra cost associated with employment for people with disabilities. We spoke about transport, which I will focus on. I am not going to comment on what it might involve. Obviously, a tax credit would involve us having discussions with the Department of Finance. The Tánaiste and Minister for Finance was there on the day and he certainly also picked up on that discussion.

The consultation process highlighted support for a base payment, with enhanced rates for those facing higher costs. Is that the model the Government will be looking at?

Again, we have not decided anything. I wanted to give the committee a flavour of the discussion and the submission. It has certainly come through in quite a lot of submissions that there would be a base rate and then additional payments. We have been here before in terms of that and I do not think it resulted in a good outcome for anyone. That piece is going to take quite a lot of work, and that work is under way.

On the transport element, I think the Minister's Department is over the rural Local Link service.

No, that is the Department of Transport. I have three Departments already so for any other Departments, I am kind of busy. It is definitely the Department of Transport.

The rural Local Link is under the rural side of the Minister's brief.

Obviously we keep a good eye on it. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, who is in the Department of Transport as well as in the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, has responsibility, as Minister of State in the Department of Transport. It is kind of in silos. In fairness to him, the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, is playing a blinder. He is doing a great job on rural transport. I will say again, in connection with the committee's remit in rural development, that the TFI Anseo pilot is really interesting. It is Local Link on demand, effectively. All of us in the room are from rural constituencies, even Deputy O'Reilly. It is something we should encourage. In the context of disability, TFI Anseo is game-changer.

I thank the Minister and his officials for attending today. I also thank them for the work that has gone into the consultation process and for the summit. I am very conscious that some people living with disabilities attended while some did not get to attend. A lot of people contacted me who wanted to attend but were not able to do so and were offered the option to join online. As Senator O'Reilly asked as well, when are we going to see this payment? For the Minister to say that all will be revealed on 6 October frightens me because these people living with disabilities right now are absolutely to the pin of their collar. We are hearing it all the time. They are choosing between heating and eating.

I understand that this is a massive piece of work the Minister is taking on. I am not sure if he has had a chance to go through the submission made by Physical Impairment Ireland, a disabled persons' representative organisation - its list of shame - on the cost of disability in Ireland. It contains findings and descriptions of lived experience. I am sure there many similar experiences in the submissions the Minister has received. Some of the representatives felt they did not get to ask some questions, so I will ask them in my time. They were specifically about this payment. I am pleased to hear the Minister is trying to have a permanent payment. The representatives felt that even waiting until budget 2027 was a massive problem. Is there a commitment that this payment will be introduced in a proper form in budget 2027? Is the Minister saying at this committee today that we have to wait and see? If so, that would not be good enough, not for the people who cannot afford their bills at the moment. Everything has gone up. The extra €10 per week on the disability payment was absolutely laughable for them. I need something better in the way of a commitment on that.

I will give the Minister my questions and he can come back to me. I want to touch on employment. Can the Minister confirm that people living with disability who are working will still qualify for this cost-of-disability payment? We really have to be careful that we do not disincentivise people from employment.

In the submissions from this DPROs, they have a fear of losing support if they enter or stay in employment. I want to understand that. The Minister said public transport is coming up a lot. It is a big one but the biggest is waiting lists. There has to be some type of collaboration with the Department of Health. Does he accept that lengthy waiting lists for assessment and treatment continue to increase the personal and financial burden? If we could sort that side of the problem, we would not have such an issue. As Deputy Aird mentioned, it is €70 to get a form filled out. I am aware of a family with four people needing the form to be filled out and they had to pay €70 four times. That is a real story. Deputy O'Reilly mentioned this. This needs to be looked at as a matter of urgency. When people are living on the breadline, there is no two ways around it. If they need to access payments, they need a medical letter. In Laois at the moment, it is €70 for the letter, if you are lucky. If it is consultant, I have heard they want to charge €120 for this letter.

I cannot give any definitive commitment about budget. We have a €28.9 billion budget in the Department. That is based on sustainable public finances. Everything we look for, we have to put in the context of a budget ask. We have a lot of asks across the Department. We will have a lot of asks in the budget discussions. I have emphasised across the morning that a permanent annual cost-of-disability payment is my budget priority going into those discussions. The disability allowance has increased by €51 per week since 2021. That is a big increase and it should be acknowledged.

Since 2021. This year, it was €10.

It is an increase. It has to be based on sustainable finances. If we get to a stage where our finances are unsustainable, we will have to start cutting rates, which I do not want to do.

In relation to those entering employment losing support, we have tried to make some changes. For people who enter employment and for whatever reason, it does not work out, and it often does not, we get them straight back onto their DA payment. That was a delay issue. Those entering employment for whom it works out can retain access to the fuel allowance payment for up to five years. We have made changes in the wage subsidy scheme. I do not know if the Senator was here when we discussed them. For people who acquire a disability while in the employment of somebody, we will support their employer for an acquired disability. I do not want people who go into employment to face that cliff edge. That is very important.

I am conscious of time.

The Senator's time is up. If she wants to let the Minister respond, she only has about 30 seconds left.

On waiting lists, we have invested €3 billion this year. We are focused on those costs and on introducing a payment around them.

I welcome the Minister. This is an important discussion. We have had debates in both Chambers on the cost of disability. I agree with colleagues on a number of issues such as Deputy Gallagher on the primary medical cert. It is not directly related with the Minister's Department but it is important it is mentioned and forms part of this discussion. It needs to be examined. It continues to be a huge issue I regularly receive representations on in the office.

I agree with everybody on the cost of getting the medical letter. It has come through all offices and all parties. It really is an issue for people who are forced to get that letter. The cost is becoming prohibitive for many people. It needs to be examined.

The Minister mentioned transport. I am aware of the case of a lady who has used a wheelchair all her life. I am now on my fourth Department trying to get her transport. It is simply not good enough. I have gone to NGOs, etc. Yesterday, the Order of Malta came to her final aid to get her to hospital. That was four Departments and it ended up with the Order of Malta. There is a serious issue for somebody who needs specific specialised transport. It came through in the forum and also on an almost daily basis. The Minister mentioned other areas like housing and housing aid grants. Housing aid grants in County Kildare have stopped and new applications are not being accepted because the money has run out. With all the money the Government is giving, many people are still suffering. He also mentioned the €10 weekly increase in disability allowance. I said to him the week before last in the House that I am aware of a number of people whose rent has gone up by €10 from an AHB. That wiped that €10 out straight away.

I want to talk about the lived reality today. I listened to the Minister's earlier contribution on the way in this morning. I want to raise the domiciliary care allowance payment in particular. Some 1,300 people have been denied a disability allowance who were previously in receipt of a DCA payment. That is not acceptable. A lot of the people I am dealing with are having to prove that their loved one has a disability. As they say to me, that disability has not gone away since they were in receipt of the DCA and since they were disqualified from getting the DA. That issue needs to be looked at. I also want to bring up the issue of those who finished on disability allowance at 16. It should be extended to 18. I have raised this with the Minister a number of times. It is an issue for a lot of families. The disability continues and does not stop after 16. I also want to talk about the forms. He mentioned the DCA form. I have come across this on a number of occasions. They have to prove that disability. People are asked for medical proof. I will give the example which I sent to the Minister's office. A person who had 16 of the 25 issues on the domiciliary care allowance form as profound was told they could not get the payment. That is beyond proof as far as I am concerned that the person should have gotten the DCA yet they went through hoops to try to get it. The problem with the form is the GP fills in profound and it does not come through at the end. I am aware of another person who went to a second GP who filled in the form differently but because it was too late going in, they had to reapply and start again. There is an issue with the forms. I know the Department is looking at this. The cost of disability has to revolve around whether it will be self-declaration or will rely on medical proof as to what the disability is. When they have the medical proof, the Minister and the Department need to look at what that means. There are too many variances. I can give a number of examples. Is the Minister looking at the forms at the moment? Where are we with all those forms?

We are looking at the forms. We are doing a lot of work on it. I will come back directly to the Deputy. I will get the team looking at that to sit down with him directly and go through those examples. We have also highlighted in terms of housing and transport the cross-departmental nature. That is why we built the summit in the way we did. I was able to get that experience through the round-tables. We had multiple Ministers there to try to get that lived experience at the various roundtables during the day. It was designed in consultation with disabled persons' organisations. We will come back to the Deputy on the forms.

We are out of time. I will give Deputy Hayes two minutes.

I thank the Minister and his officials for coming in. There is one issue I would like to zero in on, which is the supplementary welfare allowances available to people with disabilities. When adding up the number of people on disability allowance, carer's allowance, DCA and their dependants, it amounts to about 500,000 people. In his opening remarks, the Minister said in 2025 there were 2,600 applicants for the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. I got a message from somebody on TikTok of all places. He is deaf and a stroke survivor.

He looked for the additional needs payment, ANP, support but was rejected. He appealed and was rejected. He has now moved his TV and sofa into his bedroom with the door closed to keep heating his home. For the 95% of people with disabilities or who have people with disabilities in their homes and who do not get the ANP or supplementary welfare payment, what message does the Minister have? What message does he have for those who are rejected or are choosing between heating and eating?

To be honest, I cannot discuss individual cases and I am not aware of the individual case to which the Deputy referred. I have gone out of my way to make the channels of information available to those in the Houses. A few months ago, we brought all the community welfare officers from around the country into the audiovisual room and the coffee dock so that people could bring forward individual cases. We found that useful. I have tried my best to make information about ANPs, and applying for ANPs, available to people through my office. We are at the front-face of it. I have asked citizens' information bureaus around the country to give more information. I would love to see more applications coming in but I cannot guarantee that every application will be successful. That depends on each application. It comes back to Deputy Wall's point about the form. We have been very open. I have genuinely tried my best to give people information about ANPs, particularly those in both Houses because we are at the coalface. We can give that information. I am open, or have tried to be, to Deputies and cases that come through but not directly through us. My door is always open to discuss specific cases. The ANP system is there to support people in difficult situations.

I thank the Minister. We are out of time. I thank the Minister and his officials for their contributions and for providing the various briefing materials in advance, which assisted the committee in its deliberations. As we all know, the cost of disability payment is a significant part of this committee's work and we thank the Minister and his officials for coming in.

I thank Dearbháil Nic Giolla Mhicíl, Emma Morrissey, Niamh Supple and Geena Godley, who are with us. They are doing all the legwork. All of the submissions and the summit have come from this team. I put on record my thanks to the four of them for their work.

We appreciate that. The committee will suspend for a few minutes while we exchange the witnesses.