With Heather Humphreys facing renewed criticism of her social protection department’s proposed “Tory” overhaul of disability payments, those affected by her decisions as minister say they “never felt represented” by the Fine Gael presidential candidate.
As social protection minister Humphreys sought to introduce legislation requiring people with disabilities to submit to compulsory medical examinations to determine their ability to work. Defending the department's green paper proposal back in 2023, Humphreys’s then party leader Leo Varadkar suggested the state could learn from Channel 4’s Benefits Street, widely dismissed as poverty porn for its portrayal of welfare recipients.
Disability activists came together to form the Scrap the Green Paper Coalition to oppose the plans. These activists say Humphreys refused to meet with them. They reject her attempts to rewrite the green paper as a conversation starter rather than proposed legislation Humphreys favoured.
Members of the coalition came together again today in Dublin to speak of their experiences with Humphreys and what her presidential campaign says about the country. “Heather Humphreys's presidential candidacy is clear confirmation that the government does not value nor hear its disabled citizens,” one of the group’s founders, Maryam Madani, told The Ditch.
'Her government oversaw a disability allowance payment at a rate below the poverty line'
Heather Humphrey’s Department of Social Protection published the green paper proposal in 2023. The plan would’ve introduced three tiers for disability payments that would be based on what the state considered people’s ability to work.
When Humphreys’s department announced the proposal, disability rights activists, distressed by the threat to their already inadequate state support, came together to form the Scrap the Green Paper Coalition. Among the group was Disability Power Ireland founder Maryam Madani.
“We were shocked and horrified that such a policy could even be proposed and that we were expected to take it seriously through public consultations that were themselves inaccessible – one member had their wheelchair damaged trying to get into an inaccessible venue and visually impaired attendees reported that they could not follow the information which was shared on a screen,” she said.
Last night on Virgin Media’s Big Interview, Humphreys claimed she “did not defend any of the proposals” and that the paper “was purely for discussion purposes – it was for no other reason than to have a conversation”. Madani however recalls Humphreys’s advocacy for the paper in the Seanad and the Fine Gael presidential candidate’s confidence that disability organisations would support it.
“She was adamant in her support of the green paper and was keen to see it implemented, after what she believed would be approval from disability organisations,” said Madani.
“The reaction from Humphreys and government officials continues to be that this was just a consultation report. We know that there was a strong desire to implement it. Dismissing the considerable efforts of the disabled community to express why we were so furious that these proposals were even being brought forth just goes to show that they continue not to listen or care about our basic human rights. They continue to see poverty not as a systemic failure but as an individual one,” she said.
Madani and the coalition were “insulted” that the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil government would consider the legislation. They saw it as an attack on their community, locating this attack alongside media campaigns against what the mainstream considers “welfare scroungers”.
“The clear aim was to weed out the ‘welfare scroungers’ that the media always claim are in the thousands on welfare and to reduce the number of people on disability allowance. It would have subjected all disabled people to external assessments and categorised disabled people into three tiers based solely on their deemed capacity to work,” she said.
That this proposal was published when the state already fails to support disabled people made it worse.
“Disability allowance is a measly €12,688 a year. It is already impossible to pay rent, food and medical bills, equipment and supplies and survive on this. It is nowhere near a cost of living payment such as the pandemic unemployment or basic income for the arts of €1,400 a month,” said Madani. “The disability rights movement has been calling for a non-means-tested disability allowance as the only way to reduce poverty and increase employment amongst disabled people.”
Writing in The Ditch today disability advocate Alannah Uí Geargáin also spoke of Humphreys, her party and the state’s failures to support disabled people.
“As a disabled woman, I never felt represented by Heather Humphreys. Her government oversaw a disability allowance payment at a rate below the poverty line. Disabled women face a higher likelihood of intimate partner violence and have reported their partners weaponising their dependence – where was Heather Humphreys and her feelgood girlboss empowerment when those women needed her?” she wrote.
At the time of the green paper’s publication, Humphreys didn’t answer activists’ requests for meetings. One request from the coalition told Humphreys, “The disabled community is outraged by the current proposal. The green paper has caused great distress amongst the community. To further add insult to injury, the consultation process has been a farce.”
Humphreys didn’t agree to the requested meeting.
Access for All founder Bernard Mulvany was a member of the coalition. He also speaks of Humphreys’s refusal to listen.
“She had no dealings with us,” he said, adding her treatment of the community was defined by “just absolute utter disrespect. She's no friend of the disabled community. That's the truth of it. She looks at us as a burden. As do I believe plenty inside Fine Gael – a financial burden.”
For Mulvany, “The politics are simple: they’re Tory politics. They are the state not wanting to have a social welfare state. It does not want to pay people not to work, no matter how sick or ill or they are. Same with our medical cards.” Humphreys herself in her contributions as social protection minister was, “Margaret Thatcher light,” he said.
“That's why we're so angry and that's why we're putting on the pressure today,” said Mulvany, speaking about an event in Buswells disability activists held because they felt “is incumbent on us to articulate why she is not a president who can represent us in the caring and disability world.”
Madani was among the activists in Buswells. “The president is someone who is supposed to represent the people of Ireland, their needs and values. It's clear that Heather Humphreys cannot comprehend and has no interest in understanding the rights of disabled citizens or making any steps to improve our lives. Her policies have threatened to harm us,” she said.
