Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and Mr. O'Shea for his input.

I have a question about people with disabilities purchasing a vehicle with that person being the driver of that vehicle. There is a repayment where they can reclaim the VAT and the vehicle registration tax, VRT. This can amount to €10,000 to €16,000 approximately, or somewhere in that region. We have many electric vehicles coming on stream now where conversions will have to take place, together with a move in a different direction for many of these people because these vehicles will no longer be acceptable, over time. Will there be a mechanism in place which can help people in this situation besides looking for VAT and the VRT provisions, because that is just not enough?

There are also insurance issues thrown in on top of that.

Many of these vehicles are in €30,000 to €40,000 range and that is beyond many people who have disabilities. They are just on disability allowance. Even though someone may be purchasing it on their behalf, it will be a major problem going forward.

The Minister of State mentioned the mobility allowance but it has been suspended since 2013. It has been ten years. Realistically, it does not make sense. We were told that a transport support scheme would be put in place, or that officials are looking at putting one in place. Surely, though, it could not take that long to do this. That is what is bugging me. It is a matter of putting an alternative in place. I know that the Minister of State said that there are lots of players and lots of factors have to be taken into account. I understand that, but the time period has been far too long. I just think it is wrong.

Can she speak to introducing a mechanism for co-operation as well as a working partnership between the local authorities, transport providers and, of course, people with disabilities, DPOs or otherwise? It is important that everyone pulls together so we can see what we are doing. The Minister of State mentioned the travel assistance scheme, which is run by Dublin Bus. She said that she thought this could be rolled out nationally. Would this include, for example, people going to the North who might have family or health reasons to travel there? Will there be an element of North-South coverage? I am curious about that.

I want to ask about the way people have been means-tested and how they have been asked to go in to get re-tested. Disabilities are for life and they do not change. I will give the Minister of State an example. I know a person who has schizoaffective disorder and they wanted to retest that person. In God's name, retesting someone who has such a serious condition is absolutely appalling. I have encountered this in other cases. I know it is slightly off the topic of transport, but many of these people are driving, whether we like it or not, but they have a disability. That area needs to be looked at. Disabilities are for life. They should not be means-tested. That is where we are going wrong. If a person is deemed to have a disability, that should be it. It should not matter who else in the house is earning money, and that is the way it should be.