Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Exactly, and I appreciate the opportunity, a Chathaoirligh. The reply is very disappointing. It is unacceptable that we treat our disabled people in this way. In fact the answer that an unsuccessful applicant can appeal the decision to the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal, which is based in Dún Laoghaire, is crazy stuff because applicants would be wasting their time. People with a disability are being asked to travel from Cork or Donegal, which is an eight or ten-hour round journey, for a futile exercise, and the professional medical people in Dún Laoghaire will say the same. Those to whom I have spoken have informed me that they have contacted and lobbied Government themselves over the past three or four years to have the criteria relaxed so that they can do their job better, and yet we get this response today. I am bitterly disappointed with the response as it does nothing to help disabled people to live a more independent and exclusive life within their areas, particularly in rural areas like Donegal where, without the use of transportation, their lives are very limited indeed. The concerns have not been considered.

While I know that the Minister of State is not in the Department, I emphasise that this matter needs to be dealt with. A response like this coming from the Department of Health is flippant and does not take into consideration the concerns of these vulnerable people in society.