New cost of disability payment should not be means-tested, summit hears

It was also argued at the Cost of Disability Strategic Focus Network Summit in Dublin that there should be automatic eligibility for the payment if it is already recognised through existing schemes

The payment should help with 'unavoidable out-of-pocket' expenses, as well as energy and utility bills, assistive tech and disability equipment, transport, specialised food, and housing adaptation shortfalls, among other costs. File picture

A new cost of disability payment should be given to “everybody recognised as having a disability” and not means-tested, a public consultation has heard.

However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that while the Government is targeting the introduction of a payment as part of next October's budget, he would not say definitively if it would be.