Marie Moloney (Labour)
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The title of this matter speaks for itself. I have been contacted by a number of parents of children with Down's syndrome, who have told me that they are constantly driving their children - including their adult children - to and from work, swimming, physiotherapy or whatever they need, and they never receive any help whatsoever. I am asking that the primary medical certificate be extended to cover people with Down's syndrome. I understand the criteria for someone to qualify for a primary medical certificate, which the Minister of State will most likely lay out in his answer.

I know the qualifying criteria off by heart. An applicant needs to be without the use of one or two limbs and so on. Many people with Down's syndrome are very immobile, tend to be overweight and find it difficult to get around. Does the Minister of State know who William Loughnane is? I guess many Members would not know of him and neither did I until I did a little research. William Loughnane is a 26 year old Special Olympic gold medalist and the first and only person with Down's syndrome in Ireland to receive his driver's licence. There is one person in Northern Ireland and one person in southern Ireland with Down's syndrome who has a driving licence.

The Minister of State can imagine the pressure on parents with a child with Down's syndrome and a number of parents have contacted me. When one lives in rural Ireland, one is many miles away from facilities, as the Minister will well know, and from a little job one's child may have with Down's Syndrome Ireland, the Network of People with Disabilities or an employer who takes on a person with a disability and gives them a few hours work a week. The person with a disability must be driven to their job because they cannot drive themselves. A mother who is a widow has contacted me and she has to do all the driving as she does not have anyone to share it with her. She is exhausted, completely tied down and is managing under financial difficulties and stress. In some cases she has to make two journeys in that she drives to the facility and home and then drives back to collect her child.

I have been fighting for a primary medical certificate to be granted to people with neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease and other diseases. The criteria are very rigid. Even despite appeals to Dún Laoghaire on the matter, those concerned do not seem to win the fight. They have been told that the position is laid down in the legislation, the criteria are set out and they are outside the criteria. I ask the Minister to consider this proposal in a sympathetic way and to say "yes" to it. These people will more than likely never drive and will probably always be a passenger or a passenger with a disability. I ask that the primary medical certificate be extended to facilitate people with Down's syndrome.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue and I am also conscious of the fact that she said she has heard it all before-----

Marie Moloney (Labour)
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I understand the Minister of State has to read the reply into the record.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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-----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.

Marie Moloney (Labour)
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I guess it is a bad time to come looking for something new but it is important to highlight the plight of people with Down's syndrome. My timing probably is not great but I hope as we move forward that the finances will be available to expand this scheme further. The cost of scheme at €43.5 million seems quite high when only 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, but I am sure the figures are correct when the calculations are worked out. For as long as I will be a Member of the Oireachtas I will raise this issue again and perhaps in the future the finances will be available to expand the scheme. As the Minister of State said, one of the criteria is for an applicant to have the medical condition of dwarfism. I agree that people with dwarfism should qualify for the scheme, but that criterion also includes the words "and have serious difficulties of movement of the lower limbs". Many people with Down's syndrome have serious difficulty with the movement of lower limbs. I accept that wording in that criterion was referring to dwarfism but it could be expanded. I know that I am not going to get the answer I want tonight but I will continue to highlight the issue.