Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----but I am also conscious that the Minister for Finance gave me a job to do. It is important to read the reply into the record from a formality point of view.

To give a brief description of the scheme as it currently stands, it provides relief from vehicle registration tax and VAT on the purchase of a specially adapted vehicle, repayment of excise duty on fuel and an exemption from motor tax to drivers and passengers with disabilities who fulfil the medical criteria required to qualify for the scheme. The primary legislation authorising the Minister for Finance to make regulations providing for tax concessions to disabled drivers and passengers is contained in section 92 of the Finance Act 1989, and the regulations introduced subsequently to govern the scheme, including the eligibility criteria, are contained in the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994.

Currently, to qualify for the scheme, an applicant must have a permanent and severe physical disability within the terms of the regulations and satisfy one of the six qualifying criteria outlined in the regulations. The senior medical officer for the relevant local Health Service Executive administrative area makes a professional clinical determination as to whether an individual applicant satisfies the medical criteria. A successful applicant is provided with a primary medical certificate, which is required under the regulations to claim the reliefs provided for in the regulations. An unsuccessful applicant can appeal the decision of the senior medical officer to the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal, which makes a new clinical determination in respect of the individual. The regulations mandate that the medical board of appeal is independent in the exercise of its functions to ensure the integrity of its clinical determinations. After six months a citizen can reapply if there is a deterioration in their condition.

The six qualifying criteria, of which the Senator will not doubt be aware, are both strict and precise, and relate only to very specific physical disabilities. They are to be wholly or almost wholly without the use of both legs; be wholly without the use of one leg and almost wholly without the use of the other leg such that the applicant is severely restricted as to movement of the lower limbs; be without both hands or without both arms; be without one or both legs; be wholly or almost wholly without the use of both hands or arms and wholly or almost wholly without the use of one leg; and have the medical condition of dwarfism and have serious difficulties of movement of the lower limbs.

The scheme and qualifying criteria were designed specifically for those with severe physical disabilities. The Minister for Finance frequently receives correspondence from applicants who do not meet the qualifying criteria but feel that they could benefit from the scheme. Those also include citizens advocating for the addition of intellectual disabilities to the qualifying criteria. While the Minister very much sympathises with those who do not qualify for scheme, he cannot, given the scale and scope of the scheme, expand it further within the current context of constrained resources.

The Senator will appreciate that the scheme represents a significant tax expenditure. Between the vehicle registration tax and VAT forgone and the repayment of excise on fuel used by members of the scheme, the scheme represented a cost of €43.5 million to the Exchequer in 2013. This figure does not include the revenue forgone to the local government fund in respect of the relief from motor tax provided to members of the scheme. In terms of the numbers of beneficiaries of the scheme in 2013, 4,355 citizens availed of the vehicle registration tax and VAT relief, and 11,436 availed of the repayment of excise on the fuel element of the scheme.

The Minister for Finance recognises that the scheme plays an important role in expanding the mobility of citizens with disabilities, and he has managed to maintain the relief at current levels throughout the crisis and despite the requirement for significant fiscal consolidation. While recognising the Senator's position, in the still challenging fiscal environment, the Minister has no plans to expand the medical criteria beyond the six currently provided for in the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994.