Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes has called on the Minister for Social Protection to withdraw and apologise for misguided comments he made in the Dáil this morning during a debate on the cost of having a disability in Ireland.
Deputy Hayes, who is the party’s spokesperson on social protection, said:
“During today’s debate on our party motion – which called for an emergency payment of €400 to be issued within a month to people with disabilities – Minister Calleary made some extraordinary comments.
“Despite the fact that our motion was informed by the lived experiences of disabled people, the minister bizarrely declared today that nobody in Ireland needs to go without food or heating for financial reasons. To add insult to injury, he said he didn’t want a ‘misleading or dangerous message’ going out that people are having to choose between eating or heating their homes.
“His remarks were highly insensitive and completely tone deaf. Who exactly was the minister directing his comments at? The Irish Wheelchair Association? The Disability Federation of Ireland?
“These organisations have been to the forefront in calling for an emergency winter payment after this government’s last budget left disabled people €1,400 worse off a year.
“This was despite a Programme for Government commitment to commence the process of introducing a permanent cost of disability payment – something it failed to do in its first budget. Instead, it left disabled people worse off in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, with energy and food prices continuing to skyrocket.
“This government claims it recognises the additional cost of having a disability. Yet it is refusing to support our motion, which aims to offer temporary support to disabled people this winter until such a time a permanent cost of disability payment is introduced.
“A mere month after the Society of St Vincent de Paul reported record demand for its supports, Minister Calleary seems completely oblivious to the lived reality of so many in this country.
“His contention that supplementary allowances – which were granted to just 3,000 people last year – would be sufficient for the hundreds of thousands of people reliant on disability payments is risible and misleading in the extreme.
“The minister should withdraw the comments he made today, which further underscore how out of touch this government is with disabled people’s needs.”
January 28, 2026