No one-off disability payment but permanent proposals under way – Taoiseach

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association

Proposals in relation to people with disabilities will come to Cabinet in the first half of 2026, the Taoiseach has said.

Micheál Martin made the comment after being asked by the Social Democrats to introduce an emergency winter payment of €400 for people with disabilities in recognition of the additional costs they face.

Mr Martin said such one-off payments were not “fiscally sustainable”, but the Government was looking to embed permanent measures across departments, led by Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary.

Mr Calleary told the Irish Examiner in December that a “cost-of-disability” payment is a key priority for Budget 2027 and that he expected a budgetary proposal by the summer.

“Minister Calleary is leading this work in close partnership with disabled people and with advocates and with the organisations involved, and will come to Government with proposals in the first half of this year,” Mr Martin said.

Social Democrats’ deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said that people with disabilities could not afford the electricity to receive dialysis treatment or to charge their wheelchairs.

Mr O’Callaghan said: “We heard about people who’ve had to stop getting their dialysis at home, Taoiseach, because they can no longer afford the electricity bills.

“We heard about people who’ve been forced to choose between heating their home and charging their electric wheelchairs and mobility aids – trapped now all winter because they cannot afford to charge their electric wheelchair, being robbed of their independence.

“This is the reality for the tens of thousands of disabled people all over the country who feel targeted and attacked by your Government.

“They are among the most vulnerable and most at risk of poverty in our society.”

Mr Martin said that the once-off cost of living package measures were not cuts, as stated by Mr O’Callaghan.

He said: “You’ve equated the ending of the once-off cost of living measures that were introduced during the height of the Ukraine energy crisis and so forth with cuts, and that’s wrong.

“What we must do is embed into the permanent social protection system – employment system, transport system, education system and health system – supports that are permanent for people with a disability.

“And that’s what I intend to do, and that’s what this Government intends to do.”

He said he accepted that discontinuing cost-of-living payments “had an impact right across society” but that it was “simply was not fiscally sustainable” to continue with one-off measures.

“What is sustainable is in terms of our various budgets – through social protection, through education and through health – to create additional permanent resources for people with disabilities, and that’s what we have been doing and will continue to do.”