Call for disabled people to get extra funds

Disabled people should be paid an extra €40 a week as a priority in the next budget, the Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) has said. It said the money would go some way to addressing the costs of disability for individuals and the financial disadvantages they face.

The cost of the measure would be €183 million a year, according to the DFI's chief executive John Dolan.

The payment was one of five priority areas identified by the federation when it briefed politicians of all parties on Wednesday in advance of the budget.

The DFI, which represents more than 100 disability groups throughout the country, estimates that almost 10 per cent of the population have a disability of some kind.

Mr Dolan said: "In this era of massive wealth for so many in our society, large numbers of disabled people continue to experience a lower standard of living and are at greater risks of poverty than the general population."

The federation also want the Government to provide an additional €20 million for voluntary organisations which have to privately fund-raise for essential services because of inflation, pay increases and increased overheads.

Meanwhile, Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities Jimmy Devins said the Government has set up an implementation group of senior officials to carry out the work of ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Ireland was one of the first countries to sign the convention, which it did in March.

"The objective now is to ratify the convention as soon as possible," he said.

"We are in the process of examining relevant areas in our laws and administration with a view to bringing forward any changes that it may be necessary to make."