Coalition of disability groups set for mass protest outside Dáil against plans to reform welfare payments

The chairperson of Disability Power Ireland, Maryam Madani, has criticised the lack of inclusion of disability groups in the preparation of a Green Paper by the Department of Social Protection, which proposes reforming the structure of long-term disability payments by establishing a three-tiered system.

Ms Madani told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the green paper did not include proposals to remove societal barriers to employment, such as improving workplace accessibility or disability equality training for employers.

The Department of Social Protection, in a statement, however, said that Minister Heather Humphreys has already published a review of the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and the Disability Awareness Support Scheme for employers, and has agreed to the recommended changes, which are to be implemented in the first quarter of next year.

A coalition of disability groups will participate in a mass protest outside the Dail this lunchtime to oppose the proposed reforms.

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There are about 225,000 people in receipt of payments which could be affected – 150,000 on disability allowance, 74,000 on invalidity pension and about 1,000 on the blind pension.

“They have come together to protest this because there has been so much distress and outrage in the community since the announcement of these proposals,” said Ms Madani. “We will be categorised into tiers based solely on the perception of our capacity to work from independent medical assessors. All of this goes completely against everything that disabled people and our representative organisations, have been saying for decades. It goes against everything in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. And we can’t believe that a proposal like this has been brought forward.

“But we know why. And that’s because disabled people and were not consulted with from the beginning before these proposals were drawn up.”

[ Q and A on disability welfare payments reform plan: recipients to be divided into three ‘tiers’ ]

The Department of Social Protection says these payments, set at €220 a week for the disability allowance and blind pension, and up to €225.50 a week for the invalidity pension, take no account of recipients’ vastly different levels of disability and capacity to work. It wants to change the “flat” system of three different schemes into one, with three levels – called “tiers” – of payments depending on a person’s ability to work.

Ms Madani said that all the representative organisations have been preparing submissions and consultations.

“A lot of our disabled members have found them to be inaccessible and difficult for them in many different ways. And there hasn’t been space for them to speak. We had to fight for the consultation period to be extended until March. It was supposed to be December 15th.

“Most of the people in the disabled community are still catching up to this. It was kind of brought in under our noses without giving sufficient time for disabled people to be able to understand fully what’s involved in the proposals and to be able to submit their responses.”

Ms Madani said that the cost of the proposed tiered system had not been released.

“Estimating even just €100 per medical assessment of everyone already on disability services brings us to over €15 million. That’s a lot of unnecessary expenses that could be brought into other things - for example, making the workplaces more accessible for disabled people to enter employment. This is one reason why we’re upset. It’s that it’s reducing the high rates of unemployment among disabled people, which are 70 percent, is reducing that to an individual’s fault. Instead of looking at the social model of disability, which has our systems in place and the barriers we have to entering the workplace in the first place.”

The Department of Social Protection said, in a statement subsequent to Ms Madani’s remarks:

“The proposals contained in the green paper are designed for public consultation. No final decisions have been made and in response to requests from stakeholders Minister Humphreys recently extended the timeframe for public consultation until March 15th, 2024.

“The green paper proposals are trying to address the twin challenges of insulating people who cannot work from experiencing poverty; and promoting and supporting a higher rate of employment for disabled people.

“While comparisons have been made with the UK the Department has made it clear this is not a cost-cutting measure. In fact, the changes proposed in the green paper, if introduced, would cost an additional €130 million each year. Many people will see a significant increase of over €45 per week.

“Nobody will lose their entitlement to a disability payment arising from the green paper proposals, nor will they see that payment level reduced. In addition, engagement with public employment services will be on a voluntary basis.

“The Department of Social Protection is committed to enhancing supports for people with disabilities. A range of measures were taken in the recent budget including the €400 Disability Support Grant, the extension of the Free Travel Pass to persons medically certified unfit to drive, increased funding for the Wage Subsidy Scheme for People with Disabilities and an increase to all weekly payments from January. "

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