Hat-trick of U-turns as Hanafin decides disabled pay to stay
Related Articles
THE Government yesterday succumbed to intense lobbying from disability groups and completed a hat-trick of budget climbdowns.
Announcing the Government U-turn on the disability payments, Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin said the Disability Allowance will continue to be paid to 16- and 17-year-olds as normal. If the monthly payment of €791.20 had been disallowed until a teenager turns 18, some 2,000 families would have lost out on €13,000 over two years.
Ms Hanafin last night said the original decision to change the age limit had followed recommendations from a number of bodies, namely the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies, about the appropriateness of paying young people a social welfare payment in their own right at the age of 16.
That body had argued that the payment at 16 years of age did not give an "incentive for a child to pursue work/education options".
"The Government's motivation in making changes to the Disability Allowance was to address these concerns," the minister said.
"However, since the Budget a number of families have expressed concerns about the change and the fact that they had an expectation that the overall family income would increase significantly once their son or daughter reached the age of 16."
Tanaiste Mary Coughlan last night attempted to play down any suggestion of a "climbdown". It was, she tried to argue, an example of a "woman who is very caring and listening to what the issues are".
However, Fine Gael's spokeswoman Olwyn Enright said Fianna Fail now stood for "Flip Flop", and claimed the Budget is no more than a discussion document with its measures falling apart at the seams.
Discussion
"This u-turn has once again shown just how wrong Fianna Fail and the Greens got it on the Budget and how it is falling apart at the seams. The Budget was ill-conceived, ill-thought out and is now little more than a discussion document," she said.
Echoing those sentiments, Labour's Kathleen Lynch claimed the original proposal amounted to a "mugging "of disabled people and families who care for them.
Last night, the groups which met with Ms Hanafin, including Inclusion Ireland, Down Syndrome Ireland, Rehab, the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies and People with Disabilities in Ireland, welcomed the u-turn.
In a statement, the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies said their recommendations had been misrepresented by the Government. To postpone payment of the Disability Allowance without putting in place adequate financial compensation for persons with a disability and their families was "unacceptable", the statement said.
Inclusion Ireland's Deirdre Carroll said the move to cut the allowance without putting in place an allowance to offset the true cost of disability was a "retrograde step made in haste".
Angela Kerins of Rehab said it was important to ensure that every incentive is given to teenagers to experience the broad range of opportunities that are available to them as individuals, irrespective of their disability.
- ine Kerr Political Correspondent
