Louth TD says FG and FF must recognise they have failed people with disabilities

Louth TD and Sinn Féin spokesperson on Disability, Ruairí Ó Murchú TD, along with his party colleague, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Social Protection, Louise O’Reilly TD, have said that Budget 2026 is a serious backwards step for people with disabilities, and that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil must recognise they have failed people with disabilities, change course and commit to cost of disability supports immediately while there is still time.

Deputy O’Reilly and Ó Murchú were speaking this morning as they published Sinn Féin’s motion that was to be debated in the Dáil this evening, that would support and improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Deputy Ó Murchú said: “People with disabilities and their advocacy groups have told me of their significant frustration and despair over the lack of targeted measures in Budget 2026 for them.

“An Indecon report, commissioned by government in 2021, confirmed the cost of disability, estimating it on average between €9,482 and €11,734 per annum. This was not the first report showing a cost of disability - an ESRI study from this year showing that households with a disabled member face significant financial burdens and are at very high risk of poverty.

“Sinn Féin’s motion this evening calls on government to develop and introduce a Cost of Disability Payment, to increase the Disability Allowance and other weekly disability-contingent social welfare payments by €20 from January 1st as an interim measure to begin to recognise the additional costs of disability, and to deliver a lump sum payment to people with disabilities this month to provide immediate recognition of these additional costs.

“These are measures that would support and improve the lives of people with disabilities - the government needs to listen and take action.”

Teachta O’Reilly said: “People with disabilities and their households are one of the groups most at risk of poverty in this state, and they have been abandoned in Budget 2026 - a budget that has Fine Gael’s fingerprints all over it. Sinn Féin’s alternative budget proposed a €20 disability allowance payment, provided for a €300 lump sum payment to recipients of all core social welfare payments, including disability allowance. 

“We also proposed a €25 increase in domiciliary care allowance, a €450 energy credit and an annual increase of nearly €300 (€297) in the fuel allowance to ensure people with disabilities could get through the winter with a dignified standard of living.

“All this government has offered people with disabilities is a meagre €10 disability allowance increase that does not even keep up with inflation. Such a pitiful increase will be eaten up by food, energy and rents, which are all on the rise. It is cruel and frankly unjustifiable to pull supports from a group of whom half are experiencing material deprivation. 

“The government must change course, and commit to cost of disability supports immediately while there is still time. That is why Sinn Féin is bringing forward this evening’s motion. We are demanding the government to reverse its complete lack of supports for people with disabilities, and will be making specific demands for targeted payments.

“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have a duty of care and they simply ignore people with disabilities when it stops suiting them to court support ahead of a general election.

“There is talk from this government that they may consider a cost of disability payment in next year’s budget - as if subjecting hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities to poverty and material deprivation in the coming year can be neatly reversed with a flick of their pen in the following year. This is completely detached from the reality of how poverty affects people in the here and now.

“Sinn Féin will hold this government to account and ensure they are aware of the full scope of what they will be subjecting people with disabilities to if Budget 2026 is rolled out as planned.”