Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. I have to confess that I was not aware an issue around the primary medical certificate had arisen in the courts. That is a matter of real concern. I will check that out for myself and will speak to the Minister for Finance about it. As Deputy Ó Cuív has rightly said, that mobility grant scheme has been closed to new entrants for seven or eight years, a very long time. In the last Government, the Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues, Finian McGrath, did a huge amount of work to develop a new scheme. However it was very difficult to come up with terms and rules on where to draw the line and who would and would not get it. Cost was also an issue. However, that is true of every scheme, including health and social welfare schemes. That is something we need to sort out. It now falls to the new Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Deputy Rabbitte, to take up that work and lead it forward. I am sure she will.

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