A public consultation on the Cost of Disability has been launched by the Minister for Social Protection.
The Programme for Government committed to introducing a permanent disability support payment on an annual basis.
The public consultation is seeking submissions on what approach should be taken regarding the payment.
In 2021, a research document called the Indecon report estimated that additional annual costs for disabled people ranged from roughly €8,700 to over €12,300.
However, those figures have increased due to the rising cost of living.
Following the Indecon report, a Green Paper on disability reform was published by the former Minister Heather Humphreys.
It proposed restructuring disability payments which would have resulted in three tiers of support payments, but there was huge pushback.
Described as "degrading" by disabled people, the system was based on a medicalised assessment rather than social, model of disability.
The Green Paper was scrapped in April 2024.
When the current government was formed, it declared that disability as one of its priority issues.
The public consultation which gets under way today will inform the agenda for a Strategic Focus Network Summit on the cost of disability in May.
The summit will bring together Disabled Persons' organisations, Ministers, senior Government officials, civil society representatives and stakeholders to see how the cost of disability can be addressed.
Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary has acknowledged that many disabled people face extra, unavoidable daily costs.
He described the consultation as "hugely important" in ensuring that the voices of disabled people remain central to the development of the payment.
The consultation is open until 7 April and is available on the Department of Social Protection website.
