NCBI has today claimed it is bitterly disappointed that the proposed amendment to protect the Blind Pension from cuts failed to be added during the vote on the Social Welfare Bill this afternoon.

NCBI Chief Executive Des Kenny stated “NCBI and indeed those managing on the Blind Persons Pension throughout the country will be bitterly disappointed that our representation over the last 48 hours went unheeded by a government which failed to listen.”

“The fact that the vote was so close at 76-72 is all the more upsetting. There were a handful of votes in this and Independents and backbenchers alike let the blind people of this country down today. The cuts in Blind Persons Pension and Blind Welfare allowance will leave blind people all the poorer with the Government attacking the most vulnerable in our society. Scrooge arrived early this year and the spirit of Christmas is definitely one of the past.”

Mr Kenny said the numbers of people availing of the Blind Persons Pension in Ireland stands at 1,472 stating “This amounts to an annual cost to the State of just €600,000. This was a drop in the ocean of the six billion cuts we have endured in Budget 2011 but still proved too much for some of our TDs to support.”

“We had called on both Independents and Fianna Fáil backbenchers to vote in favour of the amendment and prove they had the interest of the most vulnerable at heart. They have failed this test today.”

Mr Kenny concluded “The blind people in the constituencies with Independents who supported the Government and Fianna Fáil backbenchers will know who to remember at the polls in the New Year.”