Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 60:

In page 55, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following:"Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) (Amendment) Regulations 2015

54.The Minister shall within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the impact of amending the definition of "qualifying organisation" under the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passenger (Tax Concessions) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 to allow all charitable organisations who are engaged in the care and transport of severely and permanently disabled persons.".

This amendment relates to the disabled drivers' and disabled passengers' tax concession scheme. All Members will be familiar with that scheme and will have received many representations on it in the course of their work, principally on the issue of the qualifying criteria for the primary medical certificate. Deputies will be acutely aware of that aspect but that is not the issue my party is raising here.

Certain qualifying organisations may also qualify under the scheme but the existing criteria are narrow. Principally, an organisation, in order to qualify, must be chiefly engaged in the care and transport for severely and permanently disabled persons. My colleague, Deputy Thomas Byrne, raised an issue with me relating to a special needs school he is representing and hopes to help. The school is seeking to purchase a bus for the transport of pupils attending it. However, the majority of the pupils do not have the primary medical certificate and under the existing law, the school would not be in a position to qualify. We do not seek to change the law for an individual case but the case highlights a genuine issue that needs to be addressed relating to the qualifying criteria for an organisation to benefit from this scheme and avail of the tax concession.

I thank the Minister and his officials for engaging on this issue. I understand the Department is willing to consider an amendment to a statutory instrument, SI 353 of 1994, which, if the Department is in a position to proceed, will come before the House and so on. Essentially, what I think is under consideration, which we would welcome, is that instead of the definition being that the organisation must be chiefly engaged in the care and transport of severely and permanently disabled persons, it would be replaced with a requirement that at least one service user for whom the organisation provided care and transport services would have obtained a primary medical certificate. That would be an important change that we would warmly welcome. I encourage the Government to proceed with that and take the necessary steps for it to be executed. While it could certainly benefit a certain number of special schools, it may also benefit other service providers around the country.

The Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, took a particular interest when I raised the issue and I thank him for his engagement. That would be real progress. It does not redefine the eligibility criteria for the primary medical certificate. That is an issue we have raised previously and will raise again but this is at the level of the qualifying organisation. It is an important change that it is to be hoped will happen and that we would welcome.

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