John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raised this issue last September. The Minister of State and I know about the situation at this stage. I refer to the motorised transport grant, payment of which was suspended in 2013. It was given to people with disabilities who needed to buy cars in order to retain employment or in exceptional circumstances to those with severe disabilities who lived in isolated locations and could not use public transport.

When I first raised this issue, I gave the Minister of State the details of a woman who has been looking after her husband since 1995. He contracted viral inflammation of the brain and suffered considerable brain damage. He has epileptic fits, suffers from depression, has word finding problems and problems with comprehension and memory. He had a further heart attack in 1999. This woman needs a car. There are consultant appointments on a continuous basis. She is driving an eight-year old car. The motorised transport grant allowed her to change her car every few years. She is in a desperate state following the suspension of grant payments.

When I raised the issue last September, I told the Minister of State that her car was seven years old and she would have a problem if it broke down. The engine collapsed and she bought a reconditioned engine using a loan from a credit union. She is now living from day to day. She needs to bring her husband out for a cup of tea. She cares for him 24 hours a day because she is the only one he will allow to care for him given his medical condition.

Last September, the Minister of State said the Government has decided that detailed preparatory work required on a new transport support scheme and associated statutory provisions should be progressed by the Department of Health. He confirmed the work is at an advanced stage and that the drafting of primary legislation was almost ready to go.Since then I have received a copy of a letter that was sent in 2013 by the Secretary General of the Department of Health to those in the HSE in County Mayo. It stated the Government had agreed an interdepartmental group chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach would be asked to develop detailed proposals for the operation of a new scheme or schemes and that it would report back to the Government in October 2013.

We are now some four years on and it is four months since I raised the issue. I know the Minister of State is aware of this particular case and I am sure there are multiple such cases throughout the country. Something really needs to be done to solve this situation. As I stated when I previously raised the issue, this family could have pursued the State for the treatment as others who got awards of hundreds of thousands of euro did at the time, but they are so honest and all they wanted was for the support and care to be given at home and, basically, to save the State money. However, here we are in a situation that has not improved. The problem is this woman feels she has no hope.