Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Colm Burke for raising this matter. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Finance who regrets he is unable to be present due to other business. He apologises and would have preferred to have been present himself, had that been possible.

The Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal is a body under the aegis of the Department of Finance and it is for that reason I am responding to the Senator on behalf of the Minister for Finance today. The medical board of appeal acts as an appeals body for those applicants refused a primary medical certificate by a senior medical officer of the Health Service Executive. The primary medical certificate is required to access the disabled drivers and disabled passengers (tax concessions) scheme, which provides relief from VAT and vehicle registration tax, up to certain limits, on the purchase of an adapted car for transport of a person with specific severe and permanent physical disabilities, assistance with fuel costs and an exemption from motor tax. Accordingly, the medical board of appeal provides an important function in providing citizens with an appeals process, ensuring a greater degree of consistency and fairness in the award of primary medical certificates.

Perhaps I can first outline the recent history of the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal to provide some background on the function and remit of this body to the Seanad. Prior to 1989, there was only one medical criterion for eligibility for the disabled drivers (tax concessions) scheme. An applicant's general practitioner certified whether an individual met that criterion. This gave rise to inconsistencies across the State and in 1989, it was decided to extend the number of medical criteria to five. At the same time, it was decided that medical officers at an applicant's local health board should determine whether an applicant met the criteria for eligibility for the scheme. This both extended the scheme and ensured a consistency of approach. In that context it was necessary to establish the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal to provide an appeal process. The board was initially composed of three part-time members, one of whom was appointed as chairperson. Following the enactment of the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994, the scheme was extended to passengers for the first time, which increased the workload of the board substantially. As the board was essentially working on a part-time basis, prospective delays grew rapidly through to 2004 to a point where people were waiting for more than a year for an appeal. As a first step to tackling these delays, provision was made through secondary legislation for the independence of the board, as well as an expansion of the number of members of the board to five.

In June 2005, the Department of Finance reached an agreement with the National Rehabilitation Hospital to provide two permanent staff to the board, one a full-time administrator and one a medical consultant who also would act as chairperson of the board. At that time, €300,000 was provided in the Estimates to staff and resource the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal. On 29 June 2005, officials from the Department of Finance appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service to inform the committee of the steps taken to tackle the delays on the board, including the new moneys allocated to the board. Additional legislative action was also taken which allowed the Minister to appoint more members to the board of appeal, if required. These actions bore fruit and the number of applicants awaiting an appeal fell from a high of 824 in May 2005 to 406 in June 2006. At the end of last month, there were 110 applicants awaiting an appeal, which equates to a waiting period of approximately four to five months.

At present, the board meets for 24 sessions per year, one of which is held at Mercy University Hospital in Cork city, and assesses on average 15 appeals per session. The Minister for Finance does not agree there are undue delays in processing these applications. First, one must remember the board relies on the membership of medical professionals who have full-time practices and must absent themselves from these to present at these sessions. In light of this, the Minister believes 24 sessions per year is a reasonable number. Second, I have stated the board averages 15 appeals per session. Given the independence of the board in the exercise of its functions, the Minister for Finance cannot and would not wish to suggest an increase in the number of appeals per session, as this may not give the board an adequate amount of time to assess each appeal properly. The Department of Finance keeps the operation of the board and the number of applicants awaiting appeal under constant review.

The Senator also raised a second issue, which I will bring directly to the Minister for Finance on his behalf, if that is all right.