Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Disabled people have been failed by this Government. In its record €9.4 billion budget, developers and fast food chains were prioritised. They have been handed tax breaks that will cost the State nearly €5 billion over the next four years. To help pay for that, the income of disabled people was slashed. According to the Disability Federation of Ireland, people's allowances have been reduced by €1,400. This is devastating for so many people who are barely scraping by. Successive Governments have ignored the rights of disabled people but their treatment by this Government feels particularly cruel. That is why so many people are protesting outside the Dáil today - they feel betrayed. Both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste promised during the election that disabled people would be prioritised, but at the first available opportunity those commitments were abandoned. This Government seems to think income supports for disabled people are somehow optional, because they were cut to the bone.
We have heard a lot from this Government about the need to target resources at those who need them most. That was apparently the guiding principle behind this budget. That is a nice soundbite but it does not stand up to any scrutiny because we know that huge numbers of disabled people are living in poverty. Every day, people are struggling not just with the soaring costs we all face in energy, food and housing, but with the enormous additional cost of having a disability. This is why a weekly cost-of-disability payment is precisely the kind of support the Government should be prioritising, but instead of doing that, the Government did the opposite and reduced people's incomes, pushing them even further into poverty.
One of the many payments in the Minister's pre-election giveaway budget was a one-off cost-of-disability payment. A one-off payment for an everyday cost was obviously insulting enough, but then, incredibly, the Government abolished the payment entirely and did not replace it with anything, as if the costs of having a disability somehow disappeared overnight. It is nothe first time targeted supports for disability have been removed at the stroke of a pen. In 2013 personal transport grants for disabled people were abolished. At the time the Fine Gael-Labour Government said it would replace it immediately and more than a decade later there is still no sign of it.
One of the many payments in the Minister's pre-election giveaway budget was a one-off cost-of-disability payment. A one-off payment for an everyday cost was obviously insulting enough, but then, incredibly, the Government abolished the payment entirely and did not replace it with anything, as if the costs of having a disability somehow disappeared overnight. It is not the first time that targeted supports for disability have been removed at the stroke of a pen. In 2013, personal transport grants for disabled people were abolished. At the time, the Fine Gael-Labour Government said it would replace it immediately. More than a decade later, there is still no sign of it.
The people protesting today are telling the Government how they feel - how they feel about the litany of broken promises, how they feel about consistently being failed, and how they feel about their Government slashing their income by €1,400 in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
