Colm Brophy
Question:268. Deputy Colm Brophy asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the blind pension by €5. [45959/24]
View answerThursday, 7 November 2024
Questions (268)
Written answers
My Department provides a suite of income supports for those unable to work due to illness or disability. These include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means-tested social assistance schemes.
The primary social assistance scheme for people who are blind or visually impaired is the Blind Pension, which is a means-tested payment payable to those aged between 18 and 66. Blind Pension is the only income support payment designed to cater for a specific disability.
I am committed to improving outcomes for people with a disability. As a result, I announced an extensive range of cost of living measures and improvements to schemes to support people with disabilities in Budget 2025. These included a €12 increase in the maximum personal rate of Blind Pension, from January 2025, a cost of living lump sum of €400 and double payments in October and December.
The current maximum personal rate of Blind Pension is €232 per week. If this figure was increased by €5 per week as suggested by the Deputy, based on recipient figures from the end of September 2024 (926), the additional cost would be €240,760 per annum.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.