Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue. I hope the Minister of State has some good news for us at the end of it.

One must ask significant questions about the Government's commitment to the disabled. Why is there so much difficulty for the disabled drivers in getting tax concessions? The Taoiseach and many Ministers attended the launch of the Disability Bill 2004. The Taoiseach stated clearly that millions if not billions of euro were available to deal with the problems of the disabled, yet on the issue of tax concessions for disabled drivers we are given poor answers to our questions. The delivery of tax concessions is a matter for the Minister for Finance. If the rules are not correct, the Minister and this House have the right to change them.

In case the Minister of State or others believe this is an isolated issue, I wish to bring to the attention of the House a number of different cases. One man living near the N2, which the Minister of State travels from time to time, made an application for a medical certificate, but was turned down. This man's right arm is completely useless. It hangs by his side and cannot be used. His wife was seriously ill at the time and I advised him to apply in her name. Thankfully, it worked. He has since lost his wife and made another application but was told that there was no point as he was previously turned down. We are appealing this case and hope that someone will have common sense on the issue.

Another young man who is the carer of his invalid sister and aged mother applied but because they do not meet the so-called criteria of missing limbs or whatever, the authorities have seen fit to turn him down. For this young man, who lives on a carer's allowance and the benefits of the two social welfare payments for his mother and sister, there is not much spare cash and this certificate would be of much benefit to him.

Another man from my county has been refused the certificate under the 1994 disabled drivers and disabled passengers tax concession scheme. While he retains his right leg he experiences severe problems with it. That he cannot use it is unimportant as far as this scheme is concerned. Another man with a wife and young family suffered a severe stroke and has neither the use of his left leg nor arm. It is unlikely he will regain their use. He has been turned down because he does not meet the criteria. In an attempt to get an answer I submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister for Finance on the matter.

In another case, a young man has very short legs and a full-grown body. However, anyone who sees him can tell there is no way he can drive a normal car. The car must be changed for him. He did not wish to write the word dwarfism on his initial application as he felt it was not right, but I encouraged him to do so. He holds down a first-class job but there is no bus service to the town in which he works. He must have his own car, yet he has been refused.

It does me no good to read out this litany, but that is the situation on the ground. The only answer I received from the Minister, Deputy Cowen——

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