The number of people under 30 in receipt of disability allowance has doubled in a decade according to Department of Social Protection figures.
The figures also show the proportion of recipients in younger age groups has also increased substantially.
In total, the number of disability allowance recipients increased from 163,571 in 2014 to 226,878 at the end of the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 38.7 per cent.
The proportion of recipients in the 60-65 age group has remained almost entirely unchanged at about 25 per cent of the total but the number of recipients under 30 went from 20,713 to 39,702 (12.7 per cent to 17.5 per cent).
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Within that younger age group, the number of under-20-year-olds in receipt of the allowance increased by 158 per cent to 15,322 and of those aged between 25 and 29 by 88 per cent to 11,907. The total cost of the allowance has also doubled during the 10 year period to a projected €2.8 billion for 2024, with the bulk of the increase accounted for by the growing number of recipients as rates have increased by a quarter.
Disability allowance is defined as a payment made to people who “have an injury, disease or physical or mental disability that has continued or may be expected to continue for at least one year” and who, as a result of this disability, are “substantially restricted in undertaking work that would otherwise be suitable for a person of that age, experience and qualifications”.
Figures for the prevalence of particular types of disability are said to be unreliable but a substantial part of the increase among younger people is attributed to mental health issues. Groups working in the area suggest additional supports for those young people impacted and greater flexibility around their attempts to seek work are required.
“The way the system provides supports, is that you’re either a job seeker who is actively seeking work and capable of working full time ... or you’re not that, and then you’re somebody who has a disability, someone who is not capable of full time,” says Moira Merrigan, who works with Youth Work Ireland in Tipperary Town.
“It’s good the issue of mental health has been destigmatised. I think a lot of times before maybe it just wasn’t acknowledged, but there’s an increased understanding around things like maybe ASD (autism spectrum disorder) or ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), as well as other mental health issues and I suppose that means there are going to be more diagnoses. It’s actually probably harder now to meet the criteria for a diagnosis than it used to be but it is interesting that there’s still an increase in the amount of people who are being diagnosed.”
It is not clear, she says, how much of the increase in numbers among the youngest people of working age are attributable to the growth in childhood diagnoses or whether they are coming later but the challenges for those seeking employment, she suggests, are the same.
“They do want to work but the employer needs them to work at a certain level, at a certain speed, to meet certain targets and they are not capable of that,” she says
The issue and related cost has become a big political issue in the UK. There were fears of something similar happening here when the Government published a Green Paper on reform of the system, providing for, among other things, tiered payments, but the changes were largely abandoned in the face of stiff opposition.
During the consultation Mental Health Reform pushed for additional supports including increased flexibility with regard to claimants coming on and off disability allowance, the introduction of acute episode payments, the expansion of the International Placement and Support scheme which helps both those seeking employment and potential employers. The department has substantially increased the funding of schemes intended to help people into work but advocates argue more needs to be done.
“If you look at our poverty statistics, you’ll see that almost one in two people who are not able to work because of a long-standing health condition lives in deprivation, says Fleachta Phelan, policy advocacy manager at the Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI).
“If you look at these things at a European level, we really are a laggard in terms of the barriers and obstacles people face when they’re looking to secure employment. We’re nominally in this full employment scenario and yet the stats clearly show we’re really underperforming in terms of disabled people’s employment rates. There’s a lot more we could do.”
Many of the promises in the various party manifestos for the recent general election, she suggests, were positive and groups in the sectors are now pressing for commitments to be firmed up in the next programme for government.
A basic payment towards the cost of being disabled, which DFI puts at between €12,000 and €15,000 a year, should, she says, be a priority while, “a lot of the social protection provision hasn’t kept up with the pace of inflation and the cost of living”.
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