I don’t want to take away from those genuine carers. They do savage work to those who really need it. However, there are many people out there who claim disability or carers allowance that don’t deserve it. If the government really had the balls they would check up on all claimants. Those without anything to hide shouldn’t mind being assessed. Clear out the frauds and those that need the funds could be given more.

200,000 more people with a ‘disability’ in six years!! The mind boggles!
And as usual the middle-income worker pays for everything and gets nothing….

A friend of mines son broke his neck a few years ago he was 20 . His dad is holding down a full time job .and having to deal with cuts on home help , makes my blood boil to think off these scammers taking help off ppl who need it the most. I hope the government take a good look at this

There must be a mistake cant be that much!

It’s not possible that this many have a genuine disability. More like benefits scamming by the “most vulnerable”

Do they/can they, break down the type of disability being claimed for? Unbelievable amount of people. I know an obese individual getting disability. He/she had a ‘belt’ procedure done recently in UK on the SW, is now within healthy weight range for his/her height/stature and still on disability, as no one has checked. Crazy but true. In excess of €700 per week(has family of 4), plus medical, rent etc.

Well if the rate of people with disabilities in Ireland is 13% then that is below the estimated rate of 15% of the European population, figure courtesy of the European Disabilities Forum.
It also depends greatly on what/how disabilities are classified as not all are an impediment to full-time work.
Someone who is a wheelchair-user may enjoy excellent health with no limitations on their ability to work, yet other disabilities like mental-health issues, auto-immune illnesses like MS or Lupus might be totally invisible, yet render the person totally or partially unable to work.

OMG I can’t believe these numbers, obviously there’s just as much abuse of this as there is of social welfare!

This has nothing to do with social welfare. This is the amount of people who stated that they have a disability on the census form. I’m one of them but it doesn’t stop me having a job. and I don’t get the disability allowance.

I don’t know why the figure has risen. Perhaps it has something to do with our ageing population, but it does need to be looked into.

Really struggling to believe its that high a number.

Social welfare abuse is rife in this country however abusing allowances and money set aside for those who have disabilities preventing them from working is certainly the lowest of the low.

11% of the population have a disability ?????nnThere must be money in it so !

Whatever happened to honesty?

If obesity qualifies for disability the the figure will increase as fat people don’t have as much mobility or energy which makes it difficult to work in physical jobs.

Rubbish article! All these numbers are within normal ranges for western populations and when the method of grouping changes percentage increases or otherwise are meaningless from a statistics point of view. What exactly is your point? Typical sensationalist headline with no merit.

My friend is a carer for her father. She gets the money into her account each week, gets a free travel pass and also works for herself as you’re allowed do so many hours legally. Nobody checks up and she sees her Dad the odd time. She’s totally ripping off the system and good luck to her. If the system allows itself to be fooled then why blame people who take advantage!