Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Regional Group for giving us the opportunity to talk about disabled people in order that we can all highlight ways in which we need to help them. There is a scheme in place, the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme, that provides relief from VRT and VAT for disabled people and disabled people's next of kin or drivers in order that they can take passengers in their vehicles. That scheme has been totally held up since before Christmas. The Minister of State knows there are 380 people on the list. Those people are prisoners in their own homes. I have heard from one elderly woman who needed a specially adapted vehicle, and in order for her to go to her appointment in a week's time we have to get an ambulance to take her there. That is how serious this has got. We have many people in the private sphere, such as taxi and hackney drivers, in Kenmare, Killarney and Tralee. I know one man, Teddy McCarthy of Sneem, who has two taxis suitable for people with disabilities. He purchased those vehicles in Sneem to help people in the locality.

I ask the Minister of State to put the new appeals board in place. God damn it, if I cannot find someone to drive a vehicle, I must give up and park it. It is the same story with the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. We cannot hire people. Surely if we cannot do so and if the HSE cannot put in place a system to deal with disabled people, the Government must give up, put its hands up and say it cannot do this and that it will have to find some other entity to take charge. If we as elected representatives cannot help disabled people, surely we must give up because the system is broken. The reason the board members resigned was the restrictive conditions that were in place.

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