The Social Democrats is calling on the Government to give disabled people a winter payment of €400.
Proposing the motion, Dublin Bay South TD Eoin Hayes thanked disability organisations for supporting them.
Speaking during in the Dáil, he said: "The experiences of people with disabilities ... illustrate the astonishing range with which the State manages to fail disabled people."
Deputy Hayes said the employment gap in Ireland was the highest in the developed world, according to the OECD.
Gary Gannon, TD for Dublin Central, said that "disabled people in Ireland are among the most socially excluded and disadvantaged in the State," and said one in five were living in consistent poverty.
"There seems to be no limit to how far the Government is willing to go in making life harder for people with disabilities," he said.
In response, Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary said: "We very much recognise that disabled people, their families ... face unavoidable and ongoing additional costs in their daily lives," and said improving their outcomes was a "top priority" for him and the Government.
He said a dedicated disability unit had been established in the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Social Protection was doing ongoing work on the cost of disability.
Mr Calleary said he wanted to introduce permanent payments that would improve the lives of disabled people, rather than one-off measures.
He urged people to contact his department if they needed help to heat their homes.
In relation to the permanent cost of disability payment, Minister Calleary said it involved ongoing consultation with disabled people and their advocates.
He said a public consultation would be launched in due course, and that meetings were taking place with disabled people as recently as last Friday.
He said he hoped for a fully-agreed proposal on what the payment would look like in good time for next year’s budget and reiterated its permanent nature.
