Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

We know that more than 13% of the population in this country have disabilities. Many of those have mobility difficulties. It is a false economy to deny people the opportunity to live some kind of independent life and to be able to travel, get out of their homes, be active insofar as they can, to visit, to do jobs and to go to work in many cases. Requiring a person to be without two limbs is a pretty high bar to set. I say it is a false economy because many people could live much fuller lives, including being financially independent, if they had the ability to travel in a car. This scheme would be required in order to enable them to do that. The bar is set far too high. It is way overdue to have it reduced. The Minister needs to take a measure to improve the lives of people with mobility problems.

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