The mobility grant gave me and my husband the chance to lead independent lives, with dignity, writes Miriam Murphy, who says this government are chipping away at the help for people with disabilities.
The Social Protection Minister has been advised of a proposal to cut disability allowance payments for under 18s in the forthcoming budget, the second leak in two weeks from her department.
Fianna Fáil TD said the Minister for Social Protection should be upfront about changes to criteria for the allowance and explain application refusals and delays.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny insisted that there are no plans to reduce the allowance paid to carers of severely disabled children amid fears that some families could lose out.
The Minister for Social Protection has said plans to extend the National Internship Scheme to people claiming Disability Allowance should be revealed in the coming weeks.
There was plenty at stake in the austere Budget presented by Brendan Howlin and Michael Noonan over the past two days. This slideshow will fill you in…
Ann Hughes had been concerned that Carer’s Allowance would be cut. The government left it alone – but there were other changes which will still affect her.
A MOTION OF no confidence in the Minister for Justice will be debated in the Dáil next week with Fianna Fáil claiming Alan Shatter’s position is now “untenable”.
The opposition party has been fiercely critical of the Fine Gael deputy’s handling of an ongoing row with Independent TD Mick Wallace.
“The Minister has shown extremely poor judgement of late. In particular, he used private information he received from the Garda Commissioner to undermine an opposition TD on Prime Time last week,” Niall Collins charged.
Shatter is currently facing two investigations by the Data Protection Commissioner and the Standards in Public Office Commission over his actions. He was also forced to clarify the nature of an incident where he was breathalysed by gardaí but could not complete the test because of asthma.
Although the motion of no confidence is unlikely to pass (as the government can table a counter-motion), TheJournal.ie wants to know what you think. Is Alan Shatter’s position as minister untenable?
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