DFI’s submission to Department of Social Protection on new Statement of Strategy

Issued on March 1 2025

DFI made a submission to the Department of Social Protection (DSP) on its Statement of Strategy for 2025-2028. The Department is one of the most important state bodies when it comes to disability, most notably in its responsibility to provide social protection to those who rely on its payments to live, as well as more generally to the 21.5% of people in Ireland who live with disabilities, and their families.

 

Disability is an issue that by its very nature is impacted by policy areas covered by a range of different Departments, and thus requires strong and consistent cross-departmental coordination and policymaking.

 

Given that many people with disabilities cannot work and thus rely on DSP for their basic economic survival, and others wish to work but struggle to do so due to structural barriers, the role of DSP is crucial in advancing Irelands’ delivery of its responsibilities to disabled people under the UN CRPD, as well as Irish and EU law, including Public Sector Duty. These rights are fundamental to ensuring the active participation and inclusion in society of disabled people, which must be part of DSP’s Mission.

 

To secure these rights DFI recommended the following areas of focus in the coming years:

 

  • Embed an understanding of the UN CRPD as the foundation of any work the Department does to support disabled people and their families and households.
  • Develop and/or contribute to a Cross-Departmental Strategy and Action Plan on Cost of Disability and Poverty.
  • Address the need for benchmarking and indexation of social protection rates to bring them above the poverty line, and move to deliver the Minimum Essential Standard of Living.
  • Reform social protection supports for people with disabilities, including the approach to means-testing, based on the significant learnings from the recent Green Paper on Disability Reform process.
  • Work to improve Ireland’s very low disability employment rates by addressing structural barriers to taking up employment and Cost of Disability issues. Continue to strengthen supports and policies around employment and social protection. Set clear, measurable targets, which are reported on annually.
  • Ensure all DSP staff, especially those dealing directly with people with disabilities, are sufficiently trained regarding the rights and entitlements of disabled people.
  • Strengthen and deepen DSP’s Public Sector Duty plan’s articulation of the Department’s duties in relation to disability.