Oireachtas Disability Group memo: Budget 2026 and the Cost of Disability

The Oireachtas Disability Group, ODG is a group of national disability organisations including:

• Disability Federation of Ireland, DFI
• Inclusion Ireland 
• National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers
• National Disability Services Asociation, NDSA
• Independnent Living Movem,ent Ireland, ILMI
• Mental Health Reform, MHR

Following Budget 2026, we sent the following memo to all members of the Oireachtas.

We are a group of national disability organisations who come together as the Oireachtas Disability Group, ODG. Prior to the national budget announcement in October we identified a series of key priorities in how government should take a rights-based approach to disability in line with its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, UN CRPD. To progress these commitments we called for a cost of disability payment and providing necessary social protection supports for disabled people. It is important to note also that this first budget following the landmark publication of the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People.

Continued Siloed Approach to Disability

Only 10% of approximately 1 million disabled people in Ireland require access to disability-specific and specialist services. Budget 2026 did not prioritise, nor acknowledge disabled people who rely on social protection measures or who live on low incomes.  They are facing the annual loss of up to €1,404 in once-off supports (as shown in table 1 below). This funding enabled people to keep the lights on and heat their homes.

While we understand that once-off measures would not be included in Budget 2026, there were no targeted measures acknowledging the much higher risk of poverty and deprivation experienced by disabled people. The 2024 CSO national SILC poverty data shows that people unable to work due to disability,  have consistent poverty rates four times higher (19%) than the national average of 5%. They also experience an enforced deprivation rate 3.5 times higher (38.5%) than employed people (11.6%).

For three successive Budgets, the Government acknowledged that disabled people experience additional costs which are unavoidable.  As found in the 2021 ‘Indecon Report: The Cost of Disability in Ireland’, which quantified the annual Cost of Disability as €8,700 - €12,300 in 2020. Adjusted for inflation, this is now €10,651 - €15,059. Government responded with once-off payments such as the Disability Support Grant, and additional Fuel and Living Alone Allowances.  In 2026, these payments will be gone, with nothing to replace them.

The Government says it will design a permanent Cost of Disability payment for 2027; but what do people do in 2026.  

All core social welfare payments increased in this year’s budget with an additional €10. This is a response to yearly inflation and is not a cost of disability measure.
 

 Table 1: Breakdown of Social Protection Provisions in Budget’s 2025 and 2026

Care and Disability are Not the Same

We work closely with family carers and family carer organisations, and we stand alongside them in welcoming the increase in support for carers, recognising the essential work that they do. This recognition is essential and long overdue. But funding for family carers is not a recognition of the fundamental rights of disabled people to an adequate income in their own right.

In Conclusion

Budget 2026 reflects a continued siloed approach by government to disability. Increasing specialist services, is critically needed and welcomed by the ODG as one aspect of UN CRPD fulfilment. However, without addressing the cost of disability Budget 2026 fails to respond to the diversity of the disability community.  Pending budget measures will not lift people out of poverty for those on social welfare or on low incomes.

Addressing the cost of disability requires long-term solutions, but immediate action is still essential and should not be delayed for future budgets. People are living the reality of additional unavoidable costs, they are at risk of poverty and deprivation like few other groups in our society, as well as experiencing existing and perpetuating barriers to inclusion.

We are seeking elected representatives to work to ensure that there are targeted payments for disabled people in 2026, pending the design of the permanent Cost of Disability Payment. Whether through exceptional needs payments, supplementary supports, or other targeted measures