Green Paper on Disability Reform: A Public Consultation to Reform Disability Payments in Ireland

We are committed to developing and consulting on a ‘strawman’ proposal on the restructuring of long-term disability payments under the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2021-2025 Strategy.

The Green Paper is our response to this commitment.

A Green Paper is a Government proposal on how to improve something or solve a problem. It doesn’t claim to be the best way or the only way - its real purpose is to encourage thinking and discussion, and to prompt suggestions. It is, therefore, a useful tool in a public consultation as it provides focus and ensures that everyone is working with the same information.

National strategies and reports such as the Pathways to Work Strategy, the Make Work Pay Report and the Cost of Disability Report also feeds into this paper.

The Green Paper includes proposals on reforming the following income supports:

• Disability Allowance
• Invalidity Pension
• Blind Pension
• Partial Capacity Benefit
• Domiciliary Care Allowance

The Green Paper is a consultation document and no final decisions have been made.

You will not lose your payment or end up on a payment lower than the one you are currently getting, based on the Green Paper proposals. Many people will see increases of up to €45 in their weekly payments. We estimate that an additional €130 million will be spent in supporting people with a disability.

You are not going to be forced to work. The Green Paper seeks to increase people’s payments and provide more employment supports for those who can and want to work. Any engagement with public employment services will be on a voluntary basis.

People have asked us many questions about the Green Paper. Please see our Frequently Asked Questions document below which answers questions sent to us or asked at consultation events.

We now invite submissions from individuals and stakeholder organisations, particularly people with disabilities, Disabled Persons’ Organisations and Disabled Persons’ Representative Organisations, to share their views with us.

The public consultation will be open from 20 September to 30 April 2024. The deadline has been extended by the Minister following requests from the disability sector. Submissions will be accepted in written and video format.

This Green Paper is not a final reform design. It is a proposal on what the future of long-term disability payments could look like. It doesn’t claim to be the best way or the only way to change the structure of our payments.

The Green Paper is meant to help interested parties (individuals and groups) think about what might work, and to encourage a focused debate around key design issues to reform disability payments in Ireland.

We would like to make this public consultation process as accessible as possible and to reach a wide audience. During this consultation process you can share your views with us at one of our public consultation events, or through a written or video submission.

The feedback and submissions received will help to design and develop a new model of income supports for Government to consider. Depending on the feedback from the public consultation, the model presented for Government approval may closely resemble the Green Paper or could be completely different.

Registration for the below events is now closed:

View the presentationsfrom the public consultation on the Green Paper on Disability Reform at Dublin Castle.

The presenters were:

Christopher Prinz, OECD – Do’s and Don’ts in Disability Policy, Key lessons from OECD’s work – and how they are followed by member countries.

Brian O’Connell, Indecon – Independent Evaluation of the Cost of Disability in Ireland.

Rónán Hession, Assistant Secretary, Department of Social Protection – Green Paper on Disability Reform.

We invite you to submit a written submission to share your views on the Green Paper with us. Video submissions, including video submissions in Irish Sign Language, are also welcome.

Stakeholder submissions are an important source of information and views, helping inform the development of recommendations which may follow from this process.

Before making a submission, please review the privacy information below. You may make your submission by email or post:

• email: DCPolicyConsultation@welfare.ie
• postal address: Disability and Carers’ Policy Unit, Áras Mhic Dhiarmada, Department of Social Protection, Store Street, Dublin 1, D01 WY03.

The closing date of submission was 30 April 2024. Responses received after this date will not be considered.

The Green Paper includes questions that people are asked to consider but you don’t have to answer them. Your submission should stay within the subject of the Green Paper - long-term disability payments provided by this department.

Please include contact details in your submission. When responding to this consultation, please state whether you are contributing as an individual or as an organisation, and whether you have lived experience of a disability or not.

If answering particular questions in the Green Paper, respondents are asked to reference the relevant question (for example ‘response to Section 4 Q3’).

Respondents are encouraged to add any additional views and information they believe should be considered. They are also encouraged to provide data sources/any available evidence base for any recommendations made.

Green Paper - ISL video summary

For a copy of the summary in braille please call us or email us at DCPolicyConsultation@welfare.ie

Please say which version of braille you would like.

This is a public consultation and the Freedom of Information Act 2014 applies.

Any personal information which you volunteer to this department, will be treated with the highest standards of security and confidentiality, strictly in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/67 and the Data Protection Act 2018. Please note the following:

• the department’s full privacy statement can be reviewed online

The information provided in your submission will be shared with members of the Disability and Carers’ Policy Unit, with any personal data redacted.

• the department may publish the outcome of the reviews and submissions received under this consultation on www.gov.ie, and a full list of those who make submissions may be included as an appendix in any reporting that emerges from the consultation process. Any personal data will be redacted
• any non-personal information received by the department included in submissions may be released under the FOI Act. Should a request for this information be made, the department will consult with you before making a decision should it be required to disclose it. Again, any personal data would be redacted in line with FOI legislation
• submissions will be retained until the review process, including the implementation of any accepted recommendations, has been concluded