Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to raise an issue that is of serious concern to more than 5,000 people across the country who live with reduced mobility. Citizens with reduced mobility were dealt a devastating blow on 26 February 2013, when it was announced by the Department of Health that two vital lifelines, the mobility allowance scheme and the motorised transport grant, were to be discontinued and closed to new applicants. To add further insult to those affected, no reasonable or realistic alternative to the scheme was put forward by the Department; nor was any guidance offered to those people who, 17 months later, are still struggling to deal with what was a unilateral and life-changing decision by the Government.

On 11 June last year, the Department of Health stated that the mobility allowance would continue to be paid to those already in receipt of it until the scheme was replaced. Later that month, it was announced that an interdepartmental group was to report to the Government on the establishment and operation of a new scheme by the end of October 2013. Now, almost a year and a half since the closure of these schemes and without any recent update on the long overdue interdepartmental group report, this distressing issue is still no closer to a resolution, and people with mobility challenges remain completely in the dark.

At the time of the cessation announcement by the Department of Health, over 5,000 people nationally were adversely affected by the closure of the schemes. A total of 487 people in Tipperary were in receipt of mobility allowance, while 33 others received the motorised transport grant. These precious schemes accounted on average for 20% of the total income of the recipients. Essentially, these payments are vital to recipients and their closure has had a dual negative impact. First, untold worry and stress continues to be visited upon those who rely on the mobility allowance. Recipients simply do not know what the future holds or what supports, if any, they will receive in the future. Second, no new applications for assistance can be made to the scheme, leaving hundreds of people with reduced mobility isolated and excluded from wider society.

A person with a physical disability simply cannot live life without the comfort and security of financial and practical supports, without the support of the State and its agencies and without up-to-date information as to the availability, quantity and quality of assistance. Access to a car or other appropriate and affordable mode of transport is an essential component in the life of a person with a severe physical disability. For such an individual, getting out of the house, going to town, attending a medical appointment or simply meeting up with family or friends can be a major logistical challenge.

The removal of these meagre but invaluable payments has been a shameful and reprehensible act and a move I believe to be nothing short of a travesty. The Government has had over three years to formulate an alternative to the mobility allowance, yet nothing has been done. We were advised by the Taoiseach that over €10 million was being ring-fenced for a new mobility scheme to replace those that had been deemed illegal. It is now clear that those affected by this disgraceful lack of action have been cast aside and forgotten by those in positions of power. Promises made at the last general election to retain vital mobility assistance for people affected by disability were empty and meaningless. There has been no forward thinking, no planning and a deplorable lack of respect for those people whose lives have been crushed by this short-sighted decision. The Government must stop procrastinating on this issue and put forward a fully reasoned, logical and fair alternative. No further delays can be tolerated on the issue. The Government must establish a permanent alternative to these disbanded lifelines with immediate effect.

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