A father of three has spoken of his frustration with having been denied disability allowance following an accident more than four years ago.
Simon Mulqueen, 43, had a car accident in January 2021, during which he broke his spine in three places after hitting black ice. The accident has affected him significantly to this day, leaving him physically unable to work full-time.
Mr Mulqueen has appealed to the State’s Social Welfare Office for a review of his case, but so far to no avail, leading to mounting frustration. The Social Welfare Office and Social Welfare Appeals Office say that Mr Mulqueen does not qualify for any disability allowance, despite a letter from his GP saying that he is suffering from chronic pain and fatigue, and that he is deteriorating.
The disability allowance is a weekly means-tested payment for people over 16 who have been substantially restricted from working for at least a year due to injury, disability, or disease. Speaking last month, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that disability supports would be prioritised in the upcoming budget.
“So that it will be a focus, particularly in terms of any income supports we can enhance for families with children with disabilities and for people generally who have a disability and then of course the broader issue of the carer’s allowance,” Mr Martin said.
“I’m in chronic pain and I have chronic fatigue,” Mr Mulqueen, a father of three children aged 7, 9 and 11, told Gript. “I’ve been on a crutch for the last number of months. I get no financial support from the State because my wife works full time.
“I work part-time as a historian and tour guide at a local museum, for around 20 hours a week. Because I am employed under a Community Engagement Scheme, it doesn’t pay very much. That wage is really small when it comes to raising my family, but it’s the best I can do at the moment.”
Mr Mulqueen told Gript that his condition is deteriorating, and he is now desperate for help with his case. A letter seen by Gript from his GP confirms that the father “continues to struggle with chronic pain and fatigue as a direct result of his accident” in January 2021.
The letter from his doctor strongly supports the Tipperary man’s appeal for disability allowance. It highlights how Mr Mulqueen finds it very difficult to work 19.5 hours a week, and that his pain “makes working part time extremely difficult.” He is, as the letter clarifies, physically unable to work full-time, and has been undergoing pain management since January 2021.
According to Mr Mulqueen’s doctor, his condition has unfortunately been deteriorating and there has been little improvement. It is the medical opinion of his doctor that is medical condition and his situation will not improve any time soon.
“There is a crack the entire way down my L5 vertebrae from when I hit the black ice on 5 January 2021. I went sideways into a ditch at 80kmh and I was flung into the ceiling of the car, then I was flung back down into the seat and that’s what the vertebrae was struck from the one above it,” Mr Mulqueen explained to Gript. The vertebrae above coming down and cutting the one below it almost in half can be seen in an x-ray supplied to Gript by Mr Mulqueen.
“It feels like I’m just hitting a brick wall. I’ve had both TDs and councillors write letters on my behalf, but it amounted to nothing. It doesn’t seem to make any difference at all. Talking to the Social Welfare Appeal Office is literally like hitting your head against a brick wall. It’s reached the point where the office won’t even send me digital copies of their decisions.
“I can’t even get a PDF of their decision letters for the Ombudsman; I had to drive to a library to scan it, and they have ignored four emails of mine asking for copies. That’s how petty they are.”
The strain of the situation has left him struggling to find the money to pay essential bills.
‘THERE IS NO SAFETY NET IN THIS COUNTRY’
“There’s a huge amount of stress for both myself and my wife. I don’t know how much longer we can keep going in this position,” he added.
“The last few years have taught me that there is actually no safety net in this country. I’m just trying to keep a roof over my head at this point. At this point, all I can do is get up every day, and do what I can to get through the day, without either being broke or becoming homeless. It’s one day at a time, and I am at the point now where I literally don’t expect anything from them.”
A recent letter from the Social Welfare Appeals Office claims that all evidence was considered in the case. The letter, signed by Social Welfare Appeals Officer Elaine Quinn, concluded “that while there is subjective evidence that Mr Mulqueen’s work capacity may be impacted by his condition, the objective evidence is that the level of treatment, supports, and prescribed medication, as set out in the medical report completed by Mr Mulqueen’s GP, does not support a conclusion that he is substantially restricted from undertaking suitable employment, as required by Section 210 (1) (b) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.”
“There is no error in the Appeals Officer coming to this conclusion,” the letter from August 2025 stated.
In a statement to Gript, the Department of Social Protection said: “The Department does not comment on individual cases. Disability Allowance is a means-tested support for people with a disability who are aged between 16 and 66. In order to be eligible, the disability must be expected to last for at least one year.”
Increases have been seen in illness, disability and caring payments, from 340,304 recipients at the end of 2015 to 452,572 last year – a 33 per cent rise, according to the 2024 annual report on statistical information on social welfare services, published in July by the Department of Social Protection.
However, this was underpinned by a huge increase in the number of pensioners owing to Ireland’s ageing population; the number of pensioners went up from 577,331 in 2015 to 757,425 last year – a 31 per cent rise.
The largest increase was in child beneficiaries of the domiciliary care allowance (DCA) – a monthly, non means tested payment of €360 to carers of disabled children up to age 16 – which has more than doubled.