Irish Wheelchair Association has described as utterly disappointing the failure of the Government to provide for a permanent cost of disability payment in Budget ’26.
The Association’s National Advocacy Manager, Joan Carthy, said that this coupled with the absence of once-off support payments this year will really hit disabled people financially, with IWA estimating that people with disabilities will be €1,614 worse off annually in this year’s budget, pushing many further into poverty.
She said: “For too long people with disabilities have lived in poverty, and with the impact of the extreme rise in the cost of living on top of the cost of disability, people are being forced to make choices on whether they eat or keep warm. In the last few year’s we have seen our winters become more severe with no long-term strategy from government to alleviate the pressure.”
“We have advocated for a permanent disability payment over stop-gap temporary measures but to have neither in this Budget is a huge blow, and a real cause for concern.”
She added that given the government’s commitment, at the start of its term in office, towards improving life for people with disabilities and the recent launch of the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People, there had been high hopes that Budget ’26 would include real lasting measures to put an end to the systemic neglect that leaves people with disabilities fighting every day just to make ends meet.
While IWA acknowledges the €10 increase to the Disability Allowance, it falls way short of the €78 rise recommended in IWA’s Pre-Budget Submission from €244 to €322. This would bring this in line with the standard poverty line figure. IWA had also sought for the winter fuel allowance to be extended to 52 weeks of the year, for those with a disability, but again this has not happened.
“Additional costs of having a disability ranges from between €488 to €555 on average per week.” Joan continued. “Our members will now be heading into another winter very worried about how they will manage. How can the Government stand over this? Disability poverty doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of a system that fails to recognise and respond to the real costs of living with a disability.”
