October 24, 2025 • 25 mins
On this episode of Advocacy Talks, Jamie Millar tells us about budget 2026.
From social welfare payments to the cost of disability, here’s everything you need to know.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Advocacy Talks, a podcast from the
Advocacy Team at Vision Ireland.
Here's what's coming up on thisepisode.
SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
The cost of disability is one that uh you
know a lot of people are arethere's a lot of anger about
that and a lot of disappointmentum across the the community and
a lot of people um will haveknown that uh you know it was in
the programme for governmentthat it would be it would be
introduced over the lifetime ofthe government.
So that's a that's a five-year,a five-year time frame, but
people can't wait five years fora cost of disability payment.
SPEAKER_02 (00:33):
And now here's Madeline McNamara Hello
everybody, and you're so welcometo Advocacy Talks.
Um thank you so much for tuningin, we really do appreciate it.
You may remember that in ourlast podcast I spoke to Sean
Moyles from Vision SportsIsland, and he told us about his
(00:54):
fascinating research that he'scurrently doing into the
physical literacy of people withacquired sight loss.
So if you haven't already,please do check out his survey,
which is on the visionsports.iewebsite.
I know he would reallyappreciate your help with that.
So today we're going to betalking about something which
(01:14):
affects absolutely everybody inIreland, uh, and that is Budget
2026.
So to help me discuss that veryuh important topic, I'm joined
by my colleague and teammate,Jamie Miller, who is the policy
officer for Vision Island.
So, Jamie, thank you so much forcoming on to Advocacy Talks
(01:35):
today.
SPEAKER_01 (01:36):
Thanks, Mandel.
Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_02 (01:38):
Very good.
We're delighted to have you.
And because you're the expert inall things in all things budget,
so um we we couldn't do itwithout you.
And uh so so I guess we justmight jump straight in and and
sort of see if you can kind ofoutline for us what would be the
the major takeaways from thebudget that would, I guess, have
a an impact or affect people whoare blind of vision impaired.
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
Sure, yeah.
So I suppose to put it in somecontext, I guess the budget we
hear all every year about thebudget, but it's it's a very
small proportion of I guess whatthe government actually uh
spends and how much it it takesto to run the country.
It's cost about 120 billion toto to run the coun country each
year.
Um and you know, there's alwaysa kind of leftover uh amount
(02:25):
after after everyone the youknow the state gets tax receipts
um and there's some flexibilityeach year um to add in new
measures beyond you knowmaintaining the like existing
services and the existingservices that exist.
So this year that's just ninebillion of that 120 billion, um
and it's usually uh thereaboutsthat that amount.
So that's the the kind of thebudget package that you hear
(02:47):
about for new tax and andspending changes.
So it's all about things thatthe government will will do
differently each year.
So I suppose this year's um thisyear's budget, if we look back
to last year's, you know, it wasa lot different.
You might remember.
I mean they had about eightbillion to spend last year, and
you know, there's two billion ofthat was on on these cost of
living one-off measures.
(03:09):
So everyone was um getting allthese with these one off uh
one-off payments, um, which werewe went down quite nicely with
the uh with all the voters justbefore the uh the election.
And I think another two billionwas on on you know cutting uh
taxes and income tax cuts.
So that was uh that that's a lotdifferent to what we saw this
year.
So budget 2026 was was quite aquite a pivot.
(03:30):
So there was no kind of wentfrom sort of household supports
to a lot of kind of investmentand uh business supports, you
know, capital spending, all theuh all the important stuff, but
but stuff that doesn't uh isn'treally as popular, and obviously
there was uh a lot a lot ofdisappointment um last week.
So there was there was no incometax cuts and there was no uh
none of these cost of livingmeasures that we saw um really.
(03:52):
I suppose the the the the mainpiece was probably the the VAT
the VAT cuts.
That was kind of the headlinemeasures for hospitality and and
the construction sector.
SPEAKER_02 (04:00):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean we did see some modestsort of increases, if you like,
for the people in terms of umincreases on the weekly um
social welfare payments, wasn'tit?
10 euro a week for those?
SPEAKER_01 (04:14):
Yeah, yeah, there was definitely some some
positives on the social welfarechanges, but they're very very
modest uh changes altogether.
So the I mean the positiveswould be there's quite a good
increase in what's called thecut the increase for a qualified
child, so any kind of welfarepayments you you're receiving if
you have a a dependent child,then that money goes up.
So that was actually quite aquite a significant increase,
(04:35):
and I think it was more thansome advocacy groups that had
actually called for, so that waspositive.
SPEAKER_02 (04:40):
Um obviously we welcome the So is that on top of
because I was I was saying thatso say the um the disability
allowance or or um blind pensionis gone up what to two hundred
and what two hundred andfifty-four, is it?
And then is that child thing ontop of that?
So if you had a dependent child.
SPEAKER_01 (04:57):
All the core rates went up ten euro.
Um and then if you have a child,um you know your increase is
already uh a certain amount, butit's increased by a further I
think eight euro if they'reunder twelve and over twelve is
a different amount, which issixteen, I think, euro, wasn't
it?
So that's gone up uh a goodamount, so that would be that
would be good.
(05:18):
There are some other otherthings that that we could
welcome.
You know, the carers allowancechanges to that as well.
The minimum wage went up.
These are all good things, butprobably not in the uh to the
extent that that's required.
SPEAKER_02 (05:29):
But yeah, a bit of an increase in the fuel
allowance, but I don't think itwas it kind of changed from a
one-off.
I think last year there was a300 euro extra payment, whereas
this year it's gonna have been afive euro.
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
Yeah, so the net increase the net result there is
that there's there's gonna beless in terms of the the fuel
lens.
But the eligibility was waswidened a little bit and there's
a kind of a useful change wheredisability allowance and blind
pension if you go enter theworkforce and and go off those
payments that you'll now retainyour fuel allowance for five
years.
So that's uh that's you know thethat's a big problem around you
(06:03):
know, losing people are worriedabout losing their sort of
secondary benefits, you know,medical card, free travel pass,
and fuel allowance.
So that's a start with kind ofdecoupling those because that's
that's been a big problem for along time.
SPEAKER_02 (06:14):
Absolutely.
It really is a problem if you dowant to get back into work, but
you don't want to lose thisbenefit.
So you will see, you know, sonow you keep your fuel allowance
for five years, you keep yourobviously your free travel pass
because that's not incomedependent anymore uh for people
with blind vision impaired.
And and the medical card, what'sthe situation for that?
SPEAKER_01 (06:30):
There was no changes.
I'm not sure what the situationis with the medical card.
There's certain payments I thinkyou might retain it for two
years, but don't quote me onthat.
There was no change anyway inthe budget.
SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
Because it's very much income dependent, isn't it?
So I guess it maybe depends onwhat level of employment you'll
go into, maybe.
I don't know.
Don't know on that one.
But yeah.
Yeah, so some, as you say, someincreases, but it was certainly
very disappointing that therewas nothing in terms of a
specific payment to um deal withthe cost of disability.
SPEAKER_01 (06:59):
Yeah, no, it's a lot easier to there's a lot more to
say about what wasn't there, Isuppose, in the in the budget in
terms of of social welfare.
There obviously there's that 10euro increase to all the core
rates, so your buying pensiondisability loans will go up 10
euro, but that's that's reallyan inadequate increase for for
what's needed.
There's really nothing for umyou know low or or middle income
workers at all, really.
(07:20):
No kind of targeted action foryou know people with
disabilities, you know,households in poverty, children
with poverty.
There's um that was quite uhquite disappointing, I suppose.
The cost of disability is onethat's uh you know a lot of
people are are there's a lot ofanger about that and a lot of
disappointment um across the thecommunity and a lot of people um
(07:42):
will have known that uh you knowit was in the programme for
government that it would be itwould be introduced over the
lifetime of the government.
So that's a that's a five year afive year time frame, but people
can't wait five years for a acost of disability payment
because uh you know a lot ofpeople are are are struggling
with the you know the extracosts that are that come with
with site loss and then anyother um any other kind of
(08:06):
impairment and it it's not notfair that that that should be
borne you know by by them alone.
So the state needs to needs todo something there, but it's
been it's been put off reallyfor for another year at least,
unfortunately, which is is verydisappointing.
SPEAKER_02 (08:18):
Yeah, and we were kind of hopeful that it would
happen because as you they justlaunched their you know the
national strategy, the sorry,I'm g I'm I'm I'm messing up the
title, the human rights strategyfor personal people with
disabilities, or for disabledpeople, we've got to get the
term right.
Um and and you know, thatoutlined the the commitment even
in that for cost of disability.
(08:39):
So, you know, it was hoped thatbecause of that launch so close
to budget that we might seesomething.
So who knows what the thoughtprocess is there?
SPEAKER_01 (08:48):
Yeah, no, it was disappointing, especially with
the timing of that.
I don't think it really matchedthe uh the words that were used
in the in in the launch of thatstrategy.
We didn't see that anyway lastuh last Tuch chair on budget
day.
SPEAKER_02 (08:59):
No, no.
I mean uh we did though see, youknow, big increases in spending
on um services, so todepartmental spending.
So do we know any more aboutthat, you know, in terms of what
that might go towards in termsof the the budgets to the
various dis um departments thatwould, I guess, impact people?
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
Yeah, I suppose, yeah, there's there's definitely
it's fair to say there's been anincrease, I suppose, in the in
the Department of You know,Children Disabilities
allocation.
So that is that's obviouslypositive.
And then for disability servicesin specific specifically, um
there's a 20% increase on thefunding that they got um last
year.
So I suppose in the in thegovernment's eyes, that's sort
of the it's marks the kind ofchange in like the step change
(09:40):
that they've been talking aboutin disability services.
Um but it is focused on you knowvery specialist services.
So you know, majority of themoney is going to go on uh
residential facilities and umalso on on respite.
So there's I think 1400 new dayservices places.
Obviously, that's a that's a biggonna take a big chunk, um, but
(10:00):
that's a that's obviously veryum very positive.
Um a lot more extra you know,respite day sessions and and
night sessions, additional PAand and home support hours and I
think that's hiring of new stafffor the the C D N Ts.
SPEAKER_02 (10:13):
But um And that is something that will hopefully
maybe have a positive impact forfor our service users because it
is something that you knowpeople are calling crying out
for really is increased accessto you know personal assistance
um services in particular.
SPEAKER_01 (10:27):
Yeah, definitely there's a massive uh unmet need
um there in terms of umPumpSport and and and the PA as
well.
And obviously we have our dayservices as well, so there's
yeah, that'll that'll that'llfilter on down, but we'll see.
There's more detail to be to beworked out.
SPEAKER_02 (10:42):
I I saw as well there was increased spending on,
you know, additional posts interms of say for special needs
assistance in schools increasein in numbers and you know
there, which I think ispositive, you know, for people
that do have children withdisabilities, so that's that is
something that's good.
Um but yeah, as you say, we wedon't know the full details yet
(11:03):
of where all the additionalspending will be spent.
Um transport, hopefully, wouldbe good.
Yeah, but I but I don't knowwhether there's any maybe I
don't know whether there's newspending or whether it's just
fulfilling commitments alreadymade.
You know, in terms of there isincreased rollouts in terms of
local link services, that's busservices for rural island.
(11:23):
Obviously, the Metrolink wasjust um got through its
approval.
Um so yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
Yeah, Metrolink will take a bit of that, but I
suppose yeah no, there was anadditional two billion more than
there was last year in thisbudget on infrastructure.
So that is going to be a lot oftransport um also on on energy
and facilities and and housingas well, but there will be a lot
on transport, but uh we'll we'llsee how they'll see how that
goes.
Obviously there's there's a lotof um poor provision in in rural
(11:52):
Ireland specifically.
So we're hoping we're hopefulthat uh there'll be some changes
there.
SPEAKER_02 (11:57):
Yeah, and I guess just going now to maybe to our
submission, you know, it's ahuge sort of project for you.
It's one of the big sort ofthings during during the the
life of a policy officer wouldbe the budget submission every
year.
Um, you know, and what were kindof our key asks and and did we
have any success really ingetting what we wanted or not?
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
Yeah, no, it is a big part of my my work, I
suppose each summer takes up alot of uh a lot of the summer.
So the pre-budget submissionsupposes our kind of attempt for
for Vision Arden to influence umthe budget.
Um budget is all about choices,as Pascal Dunning is always uh
very fond of saying.
So um it is about making thatthe making sure that the choices
that are made are ones thatbenefit people um who are blind
(12:38):
origin impaired as much aspossible.
So that's um that's the kind ofbasis for our pre-production
submission.
So this year it was 14 differentasks or you know recommendations
or requests for for to variousdepartments to implement.
Um so on the social protection,that was the cost of disability
was the main one which Imentioned, so that's why we're
very disappointed, along withevery other disability group and
(13:00):
every other advocate um outthere.
So we were requesting you know apayment of of at least 55 euro
per week as a start.
Um we're also requesting anincrease for all of the so all
social welfare paymentsincreased by 16 euro.
Um it was only 10 euro, which uhwasn't enough um at all either.
Um and there was the blind taxcredit as a usual kind of uh
(13:22):
mainstay of our budgetsubmissions that there would be
an increase that year.
So we we did have an increase inthat last year, so that it was
successful, and we were happyabout that.
That went up from um 1650 to1950, and that was long overdue,
so that was a big win.
But as we know this year umthere was no changes at all to
um tax credits or the tax bansuh for anybody, uh let alone the
(13:44):
uh the blind tax credit.
So there was no success on onthat one.
SPEAKER_02 (13:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And and just to be clear, thatthat's for people who are it are
in employment who can get anadditional tax credit uh if
they're blind division impaired.
Um uh, you know, so that that isdefinitely something that's
very, very useful to have.
But yeah, so overall, but Imean, yeah, not great for
anybody.
And I we weren't uh we weren'tas you say the lack of success
(14:11):
was was not just for us, it wasacross the disability sector.
So, you know, it wasn't anyreflection on anything that that
we did, it was just the way thegovernment chose to to go this
year.
Um, but in terms of just maybeletting people know what's
involved in your the pre-budgetsubmission, you know, when do
you kind of start the work onit?
Because obviously the budget'sOctober, and when when do you
(14:33):
have to start the thepreparations for that and and
what's involved?
SPEAKER_01 (14:37):
I suppose it's better to get in as as early as
possible, really.
So um probably around May, umyou know, we'd send out um the
biggest part in the in theprocess in terms of preparing is
is is you know talking to ourservice users and and advocates
and people that we we work with.
So we'd put out quite a largeyou know um survey to try to
reach as many as possible, um,asking people you know to just
(14:59):
help us decide what we shouldprioritize in the submission,
um, you know, what do they wanta government to do in in each
area, you know, whether that'stransport, health, um any any
kind of uh department.
So this year I think we got avery good um good take up.
We had 560 total uh suggestionsthat were in there in all our
classes.
So yeah, so it's uh there's aprocess there obviously in in
(15:20):
terms of um you know parsingthrough that and trying to see
uh you know what crops up um youknow the same the same ideas
from from from from differentpeople, you know, time and
again.
Um you know, this trying toidentify you know what's what's
realistic.
Some things will be a anunsurgist on you know
feasibility or or politically,you know, not as palpable or or
(15:43):
palatable.
Um so it's difficult toprioritize, and obviously we
can't put 560, um so we have tolimit it kind of to around 20.
It's not really one of thosethings where throw the kitchen
sink at it, it's it's better toto it's more uh easier for us to
be able to you know prioritizeum certain ones and really
campaign on those individuallyand and contact as many people,
(16:05):
whoever will listen, thepolicymakers and decision
makers, on on each of those kindof key asks.
SPEAKER_02 (16:10):
Yeah, because you have to find ways of justifying
those.
So you mean the submission isbacked up by kind of evidence,
isn't it?
And you know, data that you'vegathered I suppose is a big part
of it, kind of laying out wherethe deficiencies in funding or
services are.
So that's it.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (16:26):
It all comes down to money.
So yeah, at the end of the day,um yeah, each of the asks will
be you know connected to a cost.
So we'll say you should do thisand it'll cost this amount.
Um that kind of does the doesthe work for them in terms of
those calculations, butobviously um they need to be
money is is is what it comesdown to.
So calculations have to be madethere.
SPEAKER_02 (16:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you've got to be good atmaths, Jamie.
And good and good at and verygood at putting in um nice
diagrams into your submission.
I I was very impressed that youhave you're very good at putting
like a map in with kind offigures in the various
locations, say whether that'sfor you know personal assistance
services or you know, thingslike that.
It really outlines the sort ofdeficits in in the different
(17:07):
areas and stuff like that, whichI think is really good.
Uh you know, I know maybe peoplewho who who can't see either
though those tools aren'tobviously necessarily useful,
but but visually they theyreally do, I think, make a
strong statement um to be ableto look at that and see and see
what's going on.
So that that's fantastic, youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (17:27):
Politics is local, as they say.
SPEAKER_02 (17:29):
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Uh it it certainly seems to be.
Um so yeah, I mean I I thinkdisappointing overall, but you
know, got our best foot forwardon it, and hopefully next year
we will be able to have a bitmore success if the the
government in its to its secondbudget of this term, you know,
(17:51):
is it really does need to stepup to the plate in terms of the
cost of disability inparticular, I think.
SPEAKER_01 (17:56):
Yeah, exactly.
It's the first it's the firstbudget of of five for this
government.
So you know there is a hope thatthey'll uh you know, this is the
year that they'd make maybeless, you know, electorally um,
you know, uh appreciated uhchoices, you know, in terms of
investment into kind oflong-term, you know, capital
spending.
(18:16):
So if there's any year to do it,it's probably this year.
Um if they're looking at thelong term.
So you know, hop hopefully thatthat might have been uh what was
at at play to some extent andwe'll see um you know we'll
continue advocating uh throthroughout the lifetime of of of
this government and hopefullywe'll see some a lot better um
next year because people deservea lot better than than that.
SPEAKER_02 (18:37):
I hope so, absolutely.
Well, I just thought it might benice to to kind of talk a little
bit uh to you and find out aboutyou because you're fairly new to
Vision Island.
Well, you've been here over ayear now.
Um so was it June or July lastyear that you started?
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
It was uh June, yeah, the start of June, so not
too long really uh in the groundscheme.
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
Yeah, and and you and I think um uh a policy
officer is often kind of a bithidden from service users
because you're there in thebackground putting together all
these you know documents,collecting the data and doing
the research and and putting youknow forward um in submissions.
So that would be a bit nice toto find out a bit more about
what your role is.
And obviously the pre-budget isa big part, but kind of do you
kind of give us any idea of anyother kind of things that you'd
(19:19):
be involved in?
SPEAKER_01 (19:20):
Yeah, sure.
I suppose in in a nutshell, it'syou know my job is is
identifying you know anyopportunities um where you know
we can inform on on thedevelopment of of policy and and
services and also influence thatand and like I said, choices,
it's all about choices.
So trying to influence you knowthe policymakers or the
(19:41):
politicians and uh governmentsto you know make choices that
are are you know maximizing umyou know the participation of of
people who are blind tovegetable head in in in society,
that's you know the VisionIreland's end goal.
Um so you know seizing thoseopportunities wherever they they
might crop up.
So I suppose a lot of it is kindof monitoring um politics and
(20:01):
and policy and monitoring thedevelopments um that are going
on because um you know site lossaffects every um every you know
area of of it's not just onedepartment that's affected, so
you kind of have to have a agood a good um good kind of
awareness of what's going on,you know, whether that's
legislation or changes andkeeping an eye on things and if
things are moving in the wrongdirection, you know, pushing
(20:22):
back and and advocating.
So I suppose the budget processlike I spoke about there is uh
the pre-budget is is a long youknow, that's a that's a major
element, I suppose, uh in termsof the summer.
Um thinking back to to lastyear, there were um quite you
know substantial processes interms of the around the time of
the election, um going out andand communicating, putting
(20:43):
communications out to you knowour advocates to these are when
they get doorstep, you know,these are the sort of things
that you want to raise, theseare the issues.
SPEAKER_02 (20:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:50):
Um and then of course straight after the
election, it's you know, forminga government um and um you know
agreeing on a programme forgovernment.
So that was another opportunity,you know, for us to um get
things on on politicians radarand say, you know, we need this
included in the program forgovernment, this is what matters
to us, so there's there's alwaysopportunities like that, you
know, there's there's regularsubmissions as well.
(21:12):
Any then the uh the governmentwill will introduce a new
strategy, a new policy, orthey're planning on developing
something or planning onchanging, making a change to a
service.
Thankfully, you know, this thiswasn't always the way in in
public policy, but thankfullythere's there's consultations
now with the public andparticularly with you know
people with uh they'veexperienced disabilities and and
disability groups.
Um, you know, getting betterthey could be um could be
(21:34):
better, but things are improvingthat way.
So thankfully there'sopportunities for for us to
inform, to uh you know, be apart of that, make submissions,
written submissions, attend, youknow, consultation events,
roundtables with with all thedifferent stakeholders and make
engagements, um, whatever thatway.
So that's that's a lot of um alot of my my role as well in the
day-to-day.
SPEAKER_02 (21:53):
Yeah, and I and I think we have the the United the
UNCPRD, the United NationsConvention on the Rights of
People with Disabilities tothank for a lot of that in terms
of the requirement now ongovernment to engage with you
know people with livedexperience and you know people
with disabilities in in itspolicy form formation.
SPEAKER_01 (22:11):
Yeah, exactly.
No, there's an obligation thereto engage directly and and
consult and you knowco-participation, co-design,
those are all the um that's thethe order of order of the day.
So yeah, it's it's verypositive.
unknown (22:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (22:26):
It is very it is very positive and there's always
more to do.
And you know, it's as you say,your job sort of encompasses
everything, you know, the wholeof government and all of the
various things.
So keeping abreast of of what'sgoing on.
Watching lots of Eroctus things,I imagine, and some some less
interesting than others, butyeah, keeping uh keeping an eye
on it all.
Yes, because here you were atthe Eroctus uh recently.
(22:49):
Was that last night you werethere?
SPEAKER_01 (22:51):
Uh yes, at the the time we're speaking now, yeah.
I was there last night just umin relation to cost of
disability.
Obviously, as I said, there's alot of disappointment around uh
the lack of an introduction of acost of disability payment.
Um so there was an opposition umSinn Fein introduced uh uh a
private member's bill, so uh anopposition motion um you know to
(23:11):
call on the government tointroduce that payment, you
know, as soon as possible andand certainly by by January as
an interim measure.
Um now it wasn't um it wasn'tsupported by government, but it
wasn't opposed um by it,obviously, you know, uh with the
uh arithmetic of of the rockets,you know, it's not uh opposition
bills won't um won't generallyuh won't generally be be
(23:33):
carried.
But um obviously there is aunderstanding um they didn't
oppose it, so there is anunderstanding that um you know
something something does need tobe done on this on this soon, so
we're gonna keep on putting thepressure on, and that was what
um the uh that that was part ofthe purpose of of of last night,
to um, you know, put thepressure on over over the the
the the next few months,particularly over over winter.
SPEAKER_02 (23:54):
Oh fantastic.
Well it's great to to have youknow obviously he's you know
very passionate about it andputting in a lot of hard work
there and uh you know thesethings are a long process.
There's no easy fix, is there?
You know, it's it is it ischallenging.
So, you know, we we really doappreciate all the all the work
that you're you're doing.
So thank you so much for um youknow coming and talking to us
(24:16):
about it all today.
Um obviously it's it's madethings hopefully a lot clearer
for people is in terms of thebudget.
But if you do have anyquestions, there are there is a
statement on our website, um,but you can also email us at
campaigns bi.ie and we can tryand ask answer any questions
that you might have.
Um and obviously just toremember that if anybody
(24:39):
listening does require anyservices from Vision Island, you
know, if you're dealing withsight loss and and need any
assistance, you can always go toour website which is www.vi.ie,
and you can call our info lineat 1-800-911-250.
(24:59):
That's 1-800-911250.
So thank you so much forlistening today, and we hope
you'll join us next time.
Bye bye.
SPEAKER_00 (25:09):
Thanks for listening to Advocacy Talks.
To get in touch with ouradvocacy team, send us an email
to campaigns at vi.e.
Or why not join one of our localadvocacy networks, where you can
work together with others tosolve some of the biggest
problems facing blind andpartially cited people in
Ireland.
Thanks for listening, and seeyou next time.
Welcome to Advocacy Talks, a podcast from the
Advocacy Team at Vision Ireland.
Here's what's coming up on thisepisode.
SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
The cost of disability is one that uh you
know a lot of people are arethere's a lot of anger about
that and a lot of disappointmentum across the the community and
a lot of people um will haveknown that uh you know it was in
the programme for governmentthat it would be it would be
introduced over the lifetime ofthe government.
So that's a that's a five-year,a five-year time frame, but
people can't wait five years fora cost of disability payment.
SPEAKER_02 (00:33):
And now here's Madeline McNamara Hello
everybody, and you're so welcometo Advocacy Talks.
Um thank you so much for tuningin, we really do appreciate it.
You may remember that in ourlast podcast I spoke to Sean
Moyles from Vision SportsIsland, and he told us about his
(00:54):
fascinating research that he'scurrently doing into the
physical literacy of people withacquired sight loss.
So if you haven't already,please do check out his survey,
which is on the visionsports.iewebsite.
I know he would reallyappreciate your help with that.
So today we're going to betalking about something which
(01:14):
affects absolutely everybody inIreland, uh, and that is Budget
2026.
So to help me discuss that veryuh important topic, I'm joined
by my colleague and teammate,Jamie Miller, who is the policy
officer for Vision Island.
So, Jamie, thank you so much forcoming on to Advocacy Talks
(01:35):
today.
SPEAKER_01 (01:36):
Thanks, Mandel.
Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_02 (01:38):
Very good.
We're delighted to have you.
And because you're the expert inall things in all things budget,
so um we we couldn't do itwithout you.
And uh so so I guess we justmight jump straight in and and
sort of see if you can kind ofoutline for us what would be the
the major takeaways from thebudget that would, I guess, have
a an impact or affect people whoare blind of vision impaired.
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
Sure, yeah.
So I suppose to put it in somecontext, I guess the budget we
hear all every year about thebudget, but it's it's a very
small proportion of I guess whatthe government actually uh
spends and how much it it takesto to run the country.
It's cost about 120 billion toto to run the coun country each
year.
Um and you know, there's alwaysa kind of leftover uh amount
(02:25):
after after everyone the youknow the state gets tax receipts
um and there's some flexibilityeach year um to add in new
measures beyond you knowmaintaining the like existing
services and the existingservices that exist.
So this year that's just ninebillion of that 120 billion, um
and it's usually uh thereaboutsthat that amount.
So that's the the kind of thebudget package that you hear
(02:47):
about for new tax and andspending changes.
So it's all about things thatthe government will will do
differently each year.
So I suppose this year's um thisyear's budget, if we look back
to last year's, you know, it wasa lot different.
You might remember.
I mean they had about eightbillion to spend last year, and
you know, there's two billion ofthat was on on these cost of
living one-off measures.
(03:09):
So everyone was um getting allthese with these one off uh
one-off payments, um, which werewe went down quite nicely with
the uh with all the voters justbefore the uh the election.
And I think another two billionwas on on you know cutting uh
taxes and income tax cuts.
So that was uh that that's a lotdifferent to what we saw this
year.
So budget 2026 was was quite aquite a pivot.
(03:30):
So there was no kind of wentfrom sort of household supports
to a lot of kind of investmentand uh business supports, you
know, capital spending, all theuh all the important stuff, but
but stuff that doesn't uh isn'treally as popular, and obviously
there was uh a lot a lot ofdisappointment um last week.
So there was there was no incometax cuts and there was no uh
none of these cost of livingmeasures that we saw um really.
(03:52):
I suppose the the the the mainpiece was probably the the VAT
the VAT cuts.
That was kind of the headlinemeasures for hospitality and and
the construction sector.
SPEAKER_02 (04:00):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean we did see some modestsort of increases, if you like,
for the people in terms of umincreases on the weekly um
social welfare payments, wasn'tit?
10 euro a week for those?
SPEAKER_01 (04:14):
Yeah, yeah, there was definitely some some
positives on the social welfarechanges, but they're very very
modest uh changes altogether.
So the I mean the positiveswould be there's quite a good
increase in what's called thecut the increase for a qualified
child, so any kind of welfarepayments you you're receiving if
you have a a dependent child,then that money goes up.
So that was actually quite aquite a significant increase,
(04:35):
and I think it was more thansome advocacy groups that had
actually called for, so that waspositive.
SPEAKER_02 (04:40):
Um obviously we welcome the So is that on top of
because I was I was saying thatso say the um the disability
allowance or or um blind pensionis gone up what to two hundred
and what two hundred andfifty-four, is it?
And then is that child thing ontop of that?
So if you had a dependent child.
SPEAKER_01 (04:57):
All the core rates went up ten euro.
Um and then if you have a child,um you know your increase is
already uh a certain amount, butit's increased by a further I
think eight euro if they'reunder twelve and over twelve is
a different amount, which issixteen, I think, euro, wasn't
it?
So that's gone up uh a goodamount, so that would be that
would be good.
(05:18):
There are some other otherthings that that we could
welcome.
You know, the carers allowancechanges to that as well.
The minimum wage went up.
These are all good things, butprobably not in the uh to the
extent that that's required.
SPEAKER_02 (05:29):
But yeah, a bit of an increase in the fuel
allowance, but I don't think itwas it kind of changed from a
one-off.
I think last year there was a300 euro extra payment, whereas
this year it's gonna have been afive euro.
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
Yeah, so the net increase the net result there is
that there's there's gonna beless in terms of the the fuel
lens.
But the eligibility was waswidened a little bit and there's
a kind of a useful change wheredisability allowance and blind
pension if you go enter theworkforce and and go off those
payments that you'll now retainyour fuel allowance for five
years.
So that's uh that's you know thethat's a big problem around you
(06:03):
know, losing people are worriedabout losing their sort of
secondary benefits, you know,medical card, free travel pass,
and fuel allowance.
So that's a start with kind ofdecoupling those because that's
that's been a big problem for along time.
SPEAKER_02 (06:14):
Absolutely.
It really is a problem if you dowant to get back into work, but
you don't want to lose thisbenefit.
So you will see, you know, sonow you keep your fuel allowance
for five years, you keep yourobviously your free travel pass
because that's not incomedependent anymore uh for people
with blind vision impaired.
And and the medical card, what'sthe situation for that?
SPEAKER_01 (06:30):
There was no changes.
I'm not sure what the situationis with the medical card.
There's certain payments I thinkyou might retain it for two
years, but don't quote me onthat.
There was no change anyway inthe budget.
SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
Because it's very much income dependent, isn't it?
So I guess it maybe depends onwhat level of employment you'll
go into, maybe.
I don't know.
Don't know on that one.
But yeah.
Yeah, so some, as you say, someincreases, but it was certainly
very disappointing that therewas nothing in terms of a
specific payment to um deal withthe cost of disability.
SPEAKER_01 (06:59):
Yeah, no, it's a lot easier to there's a lot more to
say about what wasn't there, Isuppose, in the in the budget in
terms of of social welfare.
There obviously there's that 10euro increase to all the core
rates, so your buying pensiondisability loans will go up 10
euro, but that's that's reallyan inadequate increase for for
what's needed.
There's really nothing for umyou know low or or middle income
workers at all, really.
(07:20):
No kind of targeted action foryou know people with
disabilities, you know,households in poverty, children
with poverty.
There's um that was quite uhquite disappointing, I suppose.
The cost of disability is onethat's uh you know a lot of
people are are there's a lot ofanger about that and a lot of
disappointment um across the thecommunity and a lot of people um
(07:42):
will have known that uh you knowit was in the programme for
government that it would be itwould be introduced over the
lifetime of the government.
So that's a that's a five year afive year time frame, but people
can't wait five years for a acost of disability payment
because uh you know a lot ofpeople are are are struggling
with the you know the extracosts that are that come with
with site loss and then anyother um any other kind of
(08:06):
impairment and it it's not notfair that that that should be
borne you know by by them alone.
So the state needs to needs todo something there, but it's
been it's been put off reallyfor for another year at least,
unfortunately, which is is verydisappointing.
SPEAKER_02 (08:18):
Yeah, and we were kind of hopeful that it would
happen because as you they justlaunched their you know the
national strategy, the sorry,I'm g I'm I'm I'm messing up the
title, the human rights strategyfor personal people with
disabilities, or for disabledpeople, we've got to get the
term right.
Um and and you know, thatoutlined the the commitment even
in that for cost of disability.
(08:39):
So, you know, it was hoped thatbecause of that launch so close
to budget that we might seesomething.
So who knows what the thoughtprocess is there?
SPEAKER_01 (08:48):
Yeah, no, it was disappointing, especially with
the timing of that.
I don't think it really matchedthe uh the words that were used
in the in in the launch of thatstrategy.
We didn't see that anyway lastuh last Tuch chair on budget
day.
SPEAKER_02 (08:59):
No, no.
I mean uh we did though see, youknow, big increases in spending
on um services, so todepartmental spending.
So do we know any more aboutthat, you know, in terms of what
that might go towards in termsof the the budgets to the
various dis um departments thatwould, I guess, impact people?
SPEAKER_01 (09:18):
Yeah, I suppose, yeah, there's there's definitely
it's fair to say there's been anincrease, I suppose, in the in
the Department of You know,Children Disabilities
allocation.
So that is that's obviouslypositive.
And then for disability servicesin specific specifically, um
there's a 20% increase on thefunding that they got um last
year.
So I suppose in the in thegovernment's eyes, that's sort
of the it's marks the kind ofchange in like the step change
(09:40):
that they've been talking aboutin disability services.
Um but it is focused on you knowvery specialist services.
So you know, majority of themoney is going to go on uh
residential facilities and umalso on on respite.
So there's I think 1400 new dayservices places.
Obviously, that's a that's a biggonna take a big chunk, um, but
(10:00):
that's a that's obviously veryum very positive.
Um a lot more extra you know,respite day sessions and and
night sessions, additional PAand and home support hours and I
think that's hiring of new stafffor the the C D N Ts.
SPEAKER_02 (10:13):
But um And that is something that will hopefully
maybe have a positive impact forfor our service users because it
is something that you knowpeople are calling crying out
for really is increased accessto you know personal assistance
um services in particular.
SPEAKER_01 (10:27):
Yeah, definitely there's a massive uh unmet need
um there in terms of umPumpSport and and and the PA as
well.
And obviously we have our dayservices as well, so there's
yeah, that'll that'll that'llfilter on down, but we'll see.
There's more detail to be to beworked out.
SPEAKER_02 (10:42):
I I saw as well there was increased spending on,
you know, additional posts interms of say for special needs
assistance in schools increasein in numbers and you know
there, which I think ispositive, you know, for people
that do have children withdisabilities, so that's that is
something that's good.
Um but yeah, as you say, we wedon't know the full details yet
(11:03):
of where all the additionalspending will be spent.
Um transport, hopefully, wouldbe good.
Yeah, but I but I don't knowwhether there's any maybe I
don't know whether there's newspending or whether it's just
fulfilling commitments alreadymade.
You know, in terms of there isincreased rollouts in terms of
local link services, that's busservices for rural island.
(11:23):
Obviously, the Metrolink wasjust um got through its
approval.
Um so yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
Yeah, Metrolink will take a bit of that, but I
suppose yeah no, there was anadditional two billion more than
there was last year in thisbudget on infrastructure.
So that is going to be a lot oftransport um also on on energy
and facilities and and housingas well, but there will be a lot
on transport, but uh we'll we'llsee how they'll see how that
goes.
Obviously there's there's a lotof um poor provision in in rural
(11:52):
Ireland specifically.
So we're hoping we're hopefulthat uh there'll be some changes
there.
SPEAKER_02 (11:57):
Yeah, and I guess just going now to maybe to our
submission, you know, it's ahuge sort of project for you.
It's one of the big sort ofthings during during the the
life of a policy officer wouldbe the budget submission every
year.
Um, you know, and what were kindof our key asks and and did we
have any success really ingetting what we wanted or not?
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
Yeah, no, it is a big part of my my work, I
suppose each summer takes up alot of uh a lot of the summer.
So the pre-budget submissionsupposes our kind of attempt for
for Vision Arden to influence umthe budget.
Um budget is all about choices,as Pascal Dunning is always uh
very fond of saying.
So um it is about making thatthe making sure that the choices
that are made are ones thatbenefit people um who are blind
(12:38):
origin impaired as much aspossible.
So that's um that's the kind ofbasis for our pre-production
submission.
So this year it was 14 differentasks or you know recommendations
or requests for for to variousdepartments to implement.
Um so on the social protection,that was the cost of disability
was the main one which Imentioned, so that's why we're
very disappointed, along withevery other disability group and
(13:00):
every other advocate um outthere.
So we were requesting you know apayment of of at least 55 euro
per week as a start.
Um we're also requesting anincrease for all of the so all
social welfare paymentsincreased by 16 euro.
Um it was only 10 euro, which uhwasn't enough um at all either.
Um and there was the blind taxcredit as a usual kind of uh
(13:22):
mainstay of our budgetsubmissions that there would be
an increase that year.
So we we did have an increase inthat last year, so that it was
successful, and we were happyabout that.
That went up from um 1650 to1950, and that was long overdue,
so that was a big win.
But as we know this year umthere was no changes at all to
um tax credits or the tax bansuh for anybody, uh let alone the
(13:44):
uh the blind tax credit.
So there was no success on onthat one.
SPEAKER_02 (13:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And and just to be clear, thatthat's for people who are it are
in employment who can get anadditional tax credit uh if
they're blind division impaired.
Um uh, you know, so that that isdefinitely something that's
very, very useful to have.
But yeah, so overall, but Imean, yeah, not great for
anybody.
And I we weren't uh we weren'tas you say the lack of success
(14:11):
was was not just for us, it wasacross the disability sector.
So, you know, it wasn't anyreflection on anything that that
we did, it was just the way thegovernment chose to to go this
year.
Um, but in terms of just maybeletting people know what's
involved in your the pre-budgetsubmission, you know, when do
you kind of start the work onit?
Because obviously the budget'sOctober, and when when do you
(14:33):
have to start the thepreparations for that and and
what's involved?
SPEAKER_01 (14:37):
I suppose it's better to get in as as early as
possible, really.
So um probably around May, umyou know, we'd send out um the
biggest part in the in theprocess in terms of preparing is
is is you know talking to ourservice users and and advocates
and people that we we work with.
So we'd put out quite a largeyou know um survey to try to
reach as many as possible, um,asking people you know to just
(14:59):
help us decide what we shouldprioritize in the submission,
um, you know, what do they wanta government to do in in each
area, you know, whether that'stransport, health, um any any
kind of uh department.
So this year I think we got avery good um good take up.
We had 560 total uh suggestionsthat were in there in all our
classes.
So yeah, so it's uh there's aprocess there obviously in in
(15:20):
terms of um you know parsingthrough that and trying to see
uh you know what crops up um youknow the same the same ideas
from from from from differentpeople, you know, time and
again.
Um you know, this trying toidentify you know what's what's
realistic.
Some things will be a anunsurgist on you know
feasibility or or politically,you know, not as palpable or or
(15:43):
palatable.
Um so it's difficult toprioritize, and obviously we
can't put 560, um so we have tolimit it kind of to around 20.
It's not really one of thosethings where throw the kitchen
sink at it, it's it's better toto it's more uh easier for us to
be able to you know prioritizeum certain ones and really
campaign on those individuallyand and contact as many people,
(16:05):
whoever will listen, thepolicymakers and decision
makers, on on each of those kindof key asks.
SPEAKER_02 (16:10):
Yeah, because you have to find ways of justifying
those.
So you mean the submission isbacked up by kind of evidence,
isn't it?
And you know, data that you'vegathered I suppose is a big part
of it, kind of laying out wherethe deficiencies in funding or
services are.
So that's it.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (16:26):
It all comes down to money.
So yeah, at the end of the day,um yeah, each of the asks will
be you know connected to a cost.
So we'll say you should do thisand it'll cost this amount.
Um that kind of does the doesthe work for them in terms of
those calculations, butobviously um they need to be
money is is is what it comesdown to.
So calculations have to be madethere.
SPEAKER_02 (16:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you've got to be good atmaths, Jamie.
And good and good at and verygood at putting in um nice
diagrams into your submission.
I I was very impressed that youhave you're very good at putting
like a map in with kind offigures in the various
locations, say whether that'sfor you know personal assistance
services or you know, thingslike that.
It really outlines the sort ofdeficits in in the different
(17:07):
areas and stuff like that, whichI think is really good.
Uh you know, I know maybe peoplewho who who can't see either
though those tools aren'tobviously necessarily useful,
but but visually they theyreally do, I think, make a
strong statement um to be ableto look at that and see and see
what's going on.
So that that's fantastic, youknow.
SPEAKER_01 (17:27):
Politics is local, as they say.
SPEAKER_02 (17:29):
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Uh it it certainly seems to be.
Um so yeah, I mean I I thinkdisappointing overall, but you
know, got our best foot forwardon it, and hopefully next year
we will be able to have a bitmore success if the the
government in its to its secondbudget of this term, you know,
(17:51):
is it really does need to stepup to the plate in terms of the
cost of disability inparticular, I think.
SPEAKER_01 (17:56):
Yeah, exactly.
It's the first it's the firstbudget of of five for this
government.
So you know there is a hope thatthey'll uh you know, this is the
year that they'd make maybeless, you know, electorally um,
you know, uh appreciated uhchoices, you know, in terms of
investment into kind oflong-term, you know, capital
spending.
(18:16):
So if there's any year to do it,it's probably this year.
Um if they're looking at thelong term.
So you know, hop hopefully thatthat might have been uh what was
at at play to some extent andwe'll see um you know we'll
continue advocating uh throthroughout the lifetime of of of
this government and hopefullywe'll see some a lot better um
next year because people deservea lot better than than that.
SPEAKER_02 (18:37):
I hope so, absolutely.
Well, I just thought it might benice to to kind of talk a little
bit uh to you and find out aboutyou because you're fairly new to
Vision Island.
Well, you've been here over ayear now.
Um so was it June or July lastyear that you started?
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
It was uh June, yeah, the start of June, so not
too long really uh in the groundscheme.
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
Yeah, and and you and I think um uh a policy
officer is often kind of a bithidden from service users
because you're there in thebackground putting together all
these you know documents,collecting the data and doing
the research and and putting youknow forward um in submissions.
So that would be a bit nice toto find out a bit more about
what your role is.
And obviously the pre-budget isa big part, but kind of do you
kind of give us any idea of anyother kind of things that you'd
(19:19):
be involved in?
SPEAKER_01 (19:20):
Yeah, sure.
I suppose in in a nutshell, it'syou know my job is is
identifying you know anyopportunities um where you know
we can inform on on thedevelopment of of policy and and
services and also influence thatand and like I said, choices,
it's all about choices.
So trying to influence you knowthe policymakers or the
(19:41):
politicians and uh governmentsto you know make choices that
are are you know maximizing umyou know the participation of of
people who are blind tovegetable head in in in society,
that's you know the VisionIreland's end goal.
Um so you know seizing thoseopportunities wherever they they
might crop up.
So I suppose a lot of it is kindof monitoring um politics and
(20:01):
and policy and monitoring thedevelopments um that are going
on because um you know site lossaffects every um every you know
area of of it's not just onedepartment that's affected, so
you kind of have to have a agood a good um good kind of
awareness of what's going on,you know, whether that's
legislation or changes andkeeping an eye on things and if
things are moving in the wrongdirection, you know, pushing
(20:22):
back and and advocating.
So I suppose the budget processlike I spoke about there is uh
the pre-budget is is a long youknow, that's a that's a major
element, I suppose, uh in termsof the summer.
Um thinking back to to lastyear, there were um quite you
know substantial processes interms of the around the time of
the election, um going out andand communicating, putting
(20:43):
communications out to you knowour advocates to these are when
they get doorstep, you know,these are the sort of things
that you want to raise, theseare the issues.
SPEAKER_02 (20:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:50):
Um and then of course straight after the
election, it's you know, forminga government um and um you know
agreeing on a programme forgovernment.
So that was another opportunity,you know, for us to um get
things on on politicians radarand say, you know, we need this
included in the program forgovernment, this is what matters
to us, so there's there's alwaysopportunities like that, you
know, there's there's regularsubmissions as well.
(21:12):
Any then the uh the governmentwill will introduce a new
strategy, a new policy, orthey're planning on developing
something or planning onchanging, making a change to a
service.
Thankfully, you know, this thiswasn't always the way in in
public policy, but thankfullythere's there's consultations
now with the public andparticularly with you know
people with uh they'veexperienced disabilities and and
disability groups.
Um, you know, getting betterthey could be um could be
(21:34):
better, but things are improvingthat way.
So thankfully there'sopportunities for for us to
inform, to uh you know, be apart of that, make submissions,
written submissions, attend, youknow, consultation events,
roundtables with with all thedifferent stakeholders and make
engagements, um, whatever thatway.
So that's that's a lot of um alot of my my role as well in the
day-to-day.
SPEAKER_02 (21:53):
Yeah, and I and I think we have the the United the
UNCPRD, the United NationsConvention on the Rights of
People with Disabilities tothank for a lot of that in terms
of the requirement now ongovernment to engage with you
know people with livedexperience and you know people
with disabilities in in itspolicy form formation.
SPEAKER_01 (22:11):
Yeah, exactly.
No, there's an obligation thereto engage directly and and
consult and you knowco-participation, co-design,
those are all the um that's thethe order of order of the day.
So yeah, it's it's verypositive.
unknown (22:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (22:26):
It is very it is very positive and there's always
more to do.
And you know, it's as you say,your job sort of encompasses
everything, you know, the wholeof government and all of the
various things.
So keeping abreast of of what'sgoing on.
Watching lots of Eroctus things,I imagine, and some some less
interesting than others, butyeah, keeping uh keeping an eye
on it all.
Yes, because here you were atthe Eroctus uh recently.
(22:49):
Was that last night you werethere?
SPEAKER_01 (22:51):
Uh yes, at the the time we're speaking now, yeah.
I was there last night just umin relation to cost of
disability.
Obviously, as I said, there's alot of disappointment around uh
the lack of an introduction of acost of disability payment.
Um so there was an opposition umSinn Fein introduced uh uh a
private member's bill, so uh anopposition motion um you know to
(23:11):
call on the government tointroduce that payment, you
know, as soon as possible andand certainly by by January as
an interim measure.
Um now it wasn't um it wasn'tsupported by government, but it
wasn't opposed um by it,obviously, you know, uh with the
uh arithmetic of of the rockets,you know, it's not uh opposition
bills won't um won't generallyuh won't generally be be
(23:33):
carried.
But um obviously there is aunderstanding um they didn't
oppose it, so there is anunderstanding that um you know
something something does need tobe done on this on this soon, so
we're gonna keep on putting thepressure on, and that was what
um the uh that that was part ofthe purpose of of of last night,
to um, you know, put thepressure on over over the the
the the next few months,particularly over over winter.
SPEAKER_02 (23:54):
Oh fantastic.
Well it's great to to have youknow obviously he's you know
very passionate about it andputting in a lot of hard work
there and uh you know thesethings are a long process.
There's no easy fix, is there?
You know, it's it is it ischallenging.
So, you know, we we really doappreciate all the all the work
that you're you're doing.
So thank you so much for um youknow coming and talking to us
(24:16):
about it all today.
Um obviously it's it's madethings hopefully a lot clearer
for people is in terms of thebudget.
But if you do have anyquestions, there are there is a
statement on our website, um,but you can also email us at
campaigns bi.ie and we can tryand ask answer any questions
that you might have.
Um and obviously just toremember that if anybody
(24:39):
listening does require anyservices from Vision Island, you
know, if you're dealing withsight loss and and need any
assistance, you can always go toour website which is www.vi.ie,
and you can call our info lineat 1-800-911-250.
(24:59):
That's 1-800-911250.
So thank you so much forlistening today, and we hope
you'll join us next time.
Bye bye.
SPEAKER_00 (25:09):
Thanks for listening to Advocacy Talks.
To get in touch with ouradvocacy team, send us an email
to campaigns at vi.e.
Or why not join one of our localadvocacy networks, where you can
work together with others tosolve some of the biggest
problems facing blind andpartially cited people in
Ireland.
Thanks for listening, and seeyou next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com