The Irish government has now released its 2026 Budget, which contains a range of changes for people with disabilities, and for families and carers.
For an Easy Read Overview - you can access Inclusion Ireland's Budget Highlights here.
The full list of updates are:
Services
- €3.8bn in funding to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality for disability services
- 250 new residential places for people with disabilities
- 6,500 funded private assessments for children to address waiting lists
- 150,000 Home Support & Personal Assistant Hours for people with disabilities
- 1,717 additional SNA’s & 860 additional SEN teachers
- Additional capacity for 2,800 special school places
- Additional 250 acute and 280 community hospital beds
- 500 additional nursing home places
- Additional 1.7 million home support hours
Payments
- Weekly payments for the Carer’s Allowance/Benefit and Disability Payments will increase by €10
- Proportional increases for those on 1/2 rate Domiciliary Care Allowance will increase by €20 per month
- Fuel Allowance will increase by €5 per week
- No change to annual Carer Support Grant
- Once-off payments given in previous budgets have been phased out – these were:
- Disability Support Grant
- Living Allowance Lump Sum payment
- Fuel Allowance Lump Sum
- October Double payment
- Electricity Credit
Tax changes
- Carers Allowance Means Test - income disregards will increase to €1000/€2000 per week from July 2026
- Working Family Payment income threshold will increase by €60 per week
- Working Family Payment will now be an eligible payment for Fuel Allowance
- Christmas Bonus will be paid in December
Source: Care Alliance and Disability Federation Ireland