Disabled Women and Poverty Event (17th October 2025)
Alt text for above images: A selection of four images of groups of people talking at the Disabled Women and Poverty Event and a photo of the organising team.
On the 17th of October, as part of UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, disabled women and non-binary people came together to discuss the gendered experiences of poverty among disabled people.
We gathered to share our stories — to speak about the costs of disability, the barriers to earning a fair wage, and the challenges in accessing adequate social protection.
More importantly, we came together to build a movement for change — to strengthen networks of disabled women and non-binary people, supported by Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs) and other civil society allies, working collectively to address poverty and inequality in our community.
We’ll be sharing more reflections and outputs from this event soon, but for now, we want to express our deep thanks to everyone who contributed their time, experience, and expertise, and to those who helped make the event possible.
This event was a collaboration between Disabled Women Ireland and the Disability Participation News Hub, with thanks to IHREC Comms for providing the venue and to the Department of Social Protection for funding this important gathering.
Budget 2026 Update
Like many others working in disability advocacy, we are quite disappointed by Budget 2026. We feel that it once again fails to deliver real progress for disabled people — and especially for disabled women.
That being said, there are some changes that are coming in 2026 that we feel it would be useful for our members to know about, so here is a run down of what’s changing and what we would have liked to see change.
Cost of Disability:
For a long time, we have called for a Cost of Disability Payment in recognition of the long-standing recognition of the extra and unavoidable expenses disabled people face. Unfortunately, that has not been included in Budget 2026.
Social Welfare Changes:
€10 weekly increase in social welfare rates (including Disability Allowance) from January 2026
Fuel Allowance will increase to €38 per week from January 2026.
€20 increase in Domiciliary Care Allowance.
From September 2026, people moving from Disability Allowance or the Blind Pension into work will retain their Fuel Allowance for five years and gain access to the Back to Work Family Dividend.
Income disregard for Carer’s Allowance will rise to €1,000 (single) and €2,000 (couple), but no change to the disregard for Disability Allowance recipients.
Other Supports for Disabled People:
A 20% increase in funding for specialist disability services and recruitment of 1,000 new staff, including 150 for Children’s Disability Network Teams.
€10 million to support under-65s to move from nursing homes into community living – welcome, but far too limited.
€20 million to address the Assessment of Need waiting list crisis.
Wage Subsidy Scheme extended to more people who acquire a disability.
National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People:
The budget includes €2 million for the National LGBTIQ+ Inclusion Strategy (which is great), but no dedicated funding to implement the new National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People. We are quite worried that this will limit the strategies ability to make real change for disabled people.
For Disabled Women and Girls:
Funding to implement the successor to the National Strategy for Women and Girls is positive, and DWI urges that this new strategy explicitly include measures to address the experiences of disabled women and girls, particularly in relation to gender-based violence.
What’s Missing from Budget 2026
As once-off cost-of-living supports are phased out, many disabled women and their families will end up worse off than last year. Despite the Government’s own reports earlier this year that up to 76% of disabled people in Ireland are in (or at risk of) poverty and that the Cost of Disability is roughly €522 per week on average, this Budget contains no Cost of Disability payment at all.
The Cost of Disability is the extra cost of living disabled people experience in addition to the rising Cost of Living that comparable non-disabled people face. A token €10 increase on Disability Allowance, while better than nothing, will do little to stave off destitution in the face of rising food, fuel, housing and other costs. This increase seems more a cynical technicality so Government leaders are able to say that they’ve made an increase rather than any real attempt to lift disabled people out of the systemic poverty and homelessness we’ve been pushed into by past cuts and years of ignoring our community.
During the last election campaign, this Government stated in their intention to abolish the Means Test for Carer's Allowance but have again failed to do so in this Budget, although there has been some increase to the income disregard for carers who also work outside the home. This is extremely disappointing. It is also disappointing and frustrating that no income disregard increase has been granted to people in receipt of Disability Allowance and that removal of Means Testing hasn’t even been discussed for payments to disabled people themselves.
Despite our having repeatedly raised the rising rates of poverty and the increased exposure to violence in the home caused by financial dependency for disabled people, the Government have once again chosen to take no meaningful Budgetary action to address it. We want to see the Means Test for social welfare payments for both family carers and disabled people abolished entirely, to reflect the fact there are additional costs to being disabled – irrespective of whether you are caring for a disabled person, or are a disabled person yourself (or both!). While we fully support all actions to lift family carers out of the widespread poverty they experience, we do not want the lives and independence of disabled people to remain ignored.
There has also been no progress made on Personal Assistance policy or personalised budgets, and the persistent conflation of Personal Assistance with home care needs to be urgently addressed in future Budgets in order for disabled people to be able to make progress on achieving equal rights.
Join us on the 17th of October!
This event brings together disabled women and AMAB/AFAB non-binary people, allies, and advocates from across the disability community and civil society to explore the connections between disability, gender, and poverty. Through discussions, participants will share their experiences, identify challenges, and explore about possible solutions.
The event has three main aims:
First, we want to build a strong network of disabled women and their allies to address poverty among disabled women and the gendered aspects of disability more broadly.
Second, we want to raise awareness of the barriers created by poverty and highlight what can be done to address them.
Finally, what we learn during the event will be used to produce a discussion paper and artistic pieces addressing gender, disability, and poverty, which will inform future work and advocacy.
While we will prioritise spaces for disabled women and non-binary people, and those with lived experience, this event is also open to allies and representatives from Civil Society Organisations.
Disabled Women Ireland statement on the National Disability Strategy
“It’s been a week since the Government launched the new National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People. Disabled Women Ireland (DWI) has reviewed it and wants to share our views.
We welcome the State’s promise to take a human rights approach to disability and to involve disabled people and Disabled Persons’ Organisations (DPOs) more closely in putting the strategy into practice. But we also have concerns.
1. Lack of clear goals
We feel that the strategy is very general and doesn’t set out a clear long-term plan. We are waiting for the action plans that have been promised, and we strongly urge the Government to work with DPOs to set measurable, time-bound targets.
2. Intersectionality in name only
Although the Government says intersectionality (recognising overlapping forms of discrimination) is central to the strategy, it does not include concrete actions for specific groups. Without clear steps, the commitment is meaningless.
3. Issues affecting Disabled Women specifically
As a DPO representing disabled women and girls, we are extremely disappointed that the strategy does not mention gender-based violence or disabled parenting—both of which we raised during consultations.
It is well established that disabled women experience higher rates of gender based violence and research, including a report we worked with Women’s Aid on, has shown that 98% of abused disabled women faced serious barriers to accessing support because of their disability and 60% experienced abuse specifically targeting their disability.
Yet the strategy says nothing about this. Disabled women continue to face major obstacles when trying to report abuse or leave violent situations.
The strategy also overlooks the fact that many disabled people are parents. This is an important part of our lives and rights, but it has been ignored. While the strategy talks about supporting parents of disabled children, it fails to recognise or support disabled parents themselves.
Our commitment
DWI will continue to work with the Government to make sure disabled people’s rights are fully realised, and to ensure disabled women and girls are genuinely included in policy and practice.”
Concluding observations by the UN CEDAW Committee
Last month, Ireland was examined under the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (UN CEDAW). On the 20th of June, members of the Irish civil service and government engaged in a dialogue with the CEDAW committee addressing key issues affecting women in Ireland including representation, gender-based violence and historic rights violations.
Following this dialogue, the CEDAW Committee then released their Concluding Observations, which are the committee’s feedback to the Irish State.
Ahead of this examination, civil society organisations were invited to submit alternative or shadow reports, which give our independent perspective on how well Ireland is meeting its obligations under the UN CEDAW.
Disabled Women Ireland submitted an alternative report. Our report focused on four key areas:
Gender Based Violence
Healthcare and Sexual and Reproductive Health
Parenting as a Disabled Person
Poverty and Social Exclusion.
We also emphasised that Ireland tends to be “policy-rich but implementation-poor,” where disabled women are frequently overlooked — falling between the cracks of both disability and gender-focused policies. We also highlighted the lack of disaggregated data on disability and gender in the Irish context, which makes it much more difficult for organisations like DWI to identify challenges, and to monitor Ireland’s progress in addressing these challenges.
Earlier this week, the UN CEDAW released its Concluding Observations for Ireland and in relation to these topics the committee made the following recommendations related to these areas:
Gender based violence
Raise awareness, especially among marginalized groups of women, of legislation prohibiting gender-based violence and of the remedies available to victims, provide mandatory and culturally sensitive training for judges, prosecutors and the police on proper identification, investigation and prosecution of cases of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, and ensure access to specialized legal aid, support services and protection orders for all women victims, with a particular focus on marginalized groups, such as Traveller, Roma, migrant and LBTI women, and women with disabilities; (Rec 28b)
Strengthen the resources and data collection capacity of the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency and ensure its cooperation with survivor organizations; (Rec 28c)
Health
Establish a monitoring mechanism to prevent, detect and punish forced sterilisation, coercive abortion and non-consensual infertility treatment in the State party, with particular attention to women with disabilities and Roma women (Rec 26f)
Ensure universal access to health services with specific measures for Traveller, Roma, migrant and rural women, and women with disabilities, and ensure their inclusion in the digital health transformation under the Digital Health & Social Care Strategic Roadmap (2024-2030) (Rec 40a)
Expand the Free Contraception Scheme to include women at all ages and marginalised groups of women and ensure culturally sensitive sexual and reproductive health services for all women, including rural women, women with disabilities and migrant women; (Rec 40b)
Explicitly criminalize forced sterilization of women with disabilities and Roma women and ensure that sterilizations can only be performed with their free, prior and informed consent; (Rec 40e)
Integrate gender-sensitive, community-based mental health services into public health services, with special support for women and girl victims of gender-based violence and trafficking, and for women with psychosocial disabilities. (Rec 40g)
Poverty and social exclusion
Strengthen support programmes for women entrepreneurs, including targeted measures to ensure the participation of women from disadvantaged groups, particularly rural women, women with disabilities, Roma, Traveller and migrant women, and ethnic minority women; (Rec 44a)
Parenting as a disabled person
Undertake systematic evaluation and adopt measures to address discrimination against women with disabilities in child custody decisions; (Rec 56e)
Data collection
Ensure that such disaggregated data is collected with appropriate safeguards for privacy and confidentiality, in consultation with representatives of marginalized groups, particularly rural, Traveller, Roma and migrant women's organizations and organizations representing women with disabilities; (Rec 58b)
Specific Measures Regarding Disabled Women (Rec 46) :
The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Ensure the exercise of all human rights of women with disabilities through a comprehensive strategy that addresses all areas covered by the Convention;
(b) Ensure that women with disabilities have effective access to justice and legal aid through the provision of disability-sensitive services, reasonable accommodations and procedural adjustments in accordance with the Committee's general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women's access to justice;
(c) Provide mandatory training on the rights of women with disabilities to all personnel in the justice system;
(d) Establish comprehensive reparations for women and girls with disabilities survivors of institutional abuse and harmful practices, such as forced sterilisation and coercive abortion, that are consistent with international standards and explicitly recognize moral and transgenerational harm.
Submissions to the United Nations on CEDAW and CRPD
(29th June 2025)
Disabled Women Ireland (DWI) has recently made submissions to the United Nations under two key human rights treaties: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
UN Cedaw
Both CEDAW and CRPD are international agreements that Ireland has signed up to. They require countries to protect and promote the rights of women and disabled people. Every few years, Ireland is reviewed by UN committees to see how well it performs relative to the treaties—and groups like DWI can send in reports to highlight problems and share real-life experiences.
As part of the most recent review of Ireland under CEDAW, DWI submitted an alternative report with NeuroPride Ireland focusing on the specific experiences of disabled women and gender minorities. Our submission highlighted concerns in three core areas:
Gender-based violence
Parenting and family life
Poverty and social exclusion
We were also invited to take part in a private virtual briefing with members of the UN CEDAW Committee ahead of the State’s appearance for review.
UN CRPD
In parallel, we also submitted a List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LOIPR) to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This detailed report highlighted gaps across 15 different articles of the Convention.
As a member of the DPO Network, we also contributed to the joint LOIPR submission coordinated by the Network. That report can be found on the DPO Network’s website.