Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank both Deputies for raising these important issues concerning the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant schemes. I apologise that the Minister is unable to attend the House, but I am taking this matter on his behalf.

I am pleased to outline to the House the Government's position on the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant schemes. The Government is conscious of the needs of people with a disability who rely on transport supports from the State.

Following detailed consideration arising from the position of the Ombudsman regarding the schemes' legality, the Government decided in February that they can no longer continue and that an alternative must be devised. The funding of €10.6 million remains committed to meeting the needs of relevant people. While the schemes are closed, mobility allowance payments to those who had been in receipt will continue until June as we devise alternative solutions. A tight timescale is involved.

An independently chaired review group is seeking solutions which will not run counter to the Equal Status Acts. The group includes a number of people with a disability and a number of disability sector organisations. The work of the project group includes a public consultation process, which has been available on the Department's website for the past three weeks. A number of focus group sessions will take place shortly. The HSE is to undertake a survey of a significant number of people who were benefiting under the schemes. The purpose of these consultations is to hear the views of the widest possible number of people, and specifically includes those who have been in receipt of payments to date.

The public consultation questionnaire attempts to elicit from individuals their views on issues such as the highest priority transport needs, who faces most difficulties in getting where they need to go, eligibility criteria, whether support should be in the form of access to transport services or individual payments and how often qualification should be reviewed.

The consultation questionnaire was developed in consultation with the review group. For questions which ask for a ranking, individuals may rank more than one option with the same score, if they wish. There is no intention to exclude or compare any particular disability and the review group is not approaching its task in that way.

The Department has received submissions, comments and observations from individuals and organisations by e-mail, in the post and online. The expressed views of many individuals and organisations have been shared with the members of the review group. The public consultation was advertised in national newspapers in advance. Offices of the Citizens Information Board will assist, if required.

The public consultation is part of the much wider deliberations of the group and will not be the only thing which will decide what solutions are recommended. Given the very tight timescale, it is not possible to extend the closing date. However, the Department will be flexible where submissions are received over the next few days. Results of the review will be presented to the Government before any decisions are made. At this stage, I cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review or any Government decision.

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