Mary Henry (Independent)

The last time I raised the issue of the need to reassess the medical criteria under which people are assessed for the disabled drivers' and passengers' tax concessions regulations was on 23 June 1999. The then Minister of State, Deputy Cullen, told me an interdepartmental review was being undertaken which would report shortly. Nearly five years later there is no sign of the review. I could reproduce, word for word, my contribution in the House that night but I will not bore the House by doing so. The appeals board members, some of whom have now resigned, wonder if there will ever be evidence of this review, which is extremely important.

The medical criteria for these taxes have existed for the past 35 years. The criteria are old-fashioned because they were brought forward when a limb amputation meant one did not get a new good prosthetic limb. Amputees have said to me that they can run in cross-country races and can get tax concessions, but young people they know, who have serious neurological conditions and are trying to take up jobs, cannot get them. There are situations where the parents of children with serious conditions who live in remote areas cannot get tax concessions. I have in mind, in particular, a man from the Minister for Finance's constituency who contacted me in 1998 to ask if I thought there would be any changes in the tax concessions and if he should go ahead and buy the car. I am glad I did not tell him to delay because goodness knows what state the car would be in by now. He has contacted me again to say he should change his 1998 car and asked if I thought there would be any change in the tax concessions soon. I feel so ashamed writing back to people such as him saying nothing has happened. He quoted a letter I wrote to him some years ago in which I said "Be patient, I am sure something is going to happen". He revised this letter by saying "It is two years on, I have been pretty patient. Nothing has happened."

In the year in which the Special Olympics were held here and we all had such warm feelings about the disabled, it is shameful that the medical criteria have not been updated. It is wrong that people who cannot take public transport are not being given these concessions. The blind who cannot possibly drive a car cannot get any concessions as disabled passengers. I ask the Minister to give me hope that there will be some change. It is important to remember that some of these people, if they got tax concessions regarding being able to drive, could become taxpayers. With the permission of these people, I remember particularly that the appeals board asked me to sit in on some of the cases it was assessing.

I particularly remember one young engineer in his thirties, who was desperate to get back to work, but he had had a stroke and finances were engulfing him. Perhaps he could have paid tax for the last five years if he had been in a position to get these concessions.