Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Fhear an Phobail chuig an choiste agus roimh Sarah fosta. I welcome Mr. Deering to the committee for the first time in his official capacity and I welcome Ms Cooney as well. It is fitting that Mr. Deering is picking up where his predecessor left off and one of his last official duties was that report, which makes for difficult reading. Peter Tyndall published Grounded in November 2021 and one line that stuck out for me in it was: “Living with a disability in Ireland in 2021 should never mean that a person is grounded in their home”. Unfortunately that is where far too many people are. Unfortunately, as he was preparing to publish that report we found out that the whole Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal had resigned en masse, something that has not been seen in this State. They did so after they repeatedly raised concerns with the Minister. I have said before at this committee that I am deeply disturbed by what has happened with that scheme, why those concerns were not listened to, why we have no board of appeal and why individuals felt they were forced into this type of action. Listening to Mr. Deering’s opening remarks and looking at Mr. Tyndall’s extensive work on this, it is clear this is not the first time that concerns have been falling on deaf ears. Mr. Deering’s predecessor wrote to the Minister for Finance in December 2014 and again in June 2017. He also wrote to the Secretary General in January 2020 and we are still not getting the changes. Mr. Deering said there are questions and we will hopefully raise questions with the Minister for Finance on his inaction on this. Mr. Deering said that the restrictive criteria for this scheme have resulted in people who do not meet the criteria but who are equally immobile to those who do being excluded from the scheme. Would this amount to discrimination under the operation of the scheme?