Small charities for people with disabilities who have lost funding can avail of a formal process of appeal, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

“The Government, across all departments, takes the disability sector very seriously indeed,’’ he added. He said almost €5 billion was currently provided to disability services across the various sectors, with €1.4 billion of that provided for health and personal social services.

The Taoiseach was replying in the Dáil today to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who said that two weeks ago about 26 disability and caring-focused organisations across the country lost funding under the scheme for community and voluntary organisations.

"This has been a devastating blow for people in the health and disability area," Mr Martin said.

Eleven organisations in the neurological alliance, for example, had lost their funding, he said, adding he was talking about €1.2 million overall which covered the cost of the 26 organisations supporting people with very rare conditions as a result of a genetic inheritance and other issues.

He said Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole had today described the Government’s action as “simply crass stupidity”, and it was very difficult to disagree with that view.