Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the point the Deputy is making. I have a friend with epilepsy. They are off the road at the minute. As the Deputy said, if someone loses their licence due to a seizure caused by epilepsy, it really is awful for them and I understand that. The problem I have, which the Department officials have clearly pointed out to me, is that the free travel pass is very much based on the social welfare payment a person is in receipt of. It is not based on a person's condition or illness. As the Deputy knows, the social welfare system is based on income and contributions. The change Epilepsy Ireland is proposing would move the scheme away from a person being in receipt of a qualifying payment to it being based on his or her condition regardless of income. That would be a fundamental change to how the scheme is run. I imagine it would give rise to calls from other groups. Like everything, if it was easy, it would have been done long ago.

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