Colm Burke (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State. I am raising this issue as a result of a family coming to me about their 52 year old daughter who has an intellectual disability. The family is the main carer for their daughter. Every morning, for the past 35 years, the family has been driving her to a Cope Foundation facility in Cork, and collecting her every evening. The family applied for the disabled driver’s tax concession grant but was turned down. The family appealed but were advised it would take six to seven months. I find this unhelpful and unsatisfactory, particularly when the parents, who have moved on in age themselves, have been caring for their daughter for that length of time.

SI No. 353/1994, Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994, only applies to where a person has a physical disability. Where a person has an intellectual disability, no tax concessions are available. I have examined the regulations and the Act. In my view, it is only a matter of time before someone decides to call for a judicial review of this matter because there is discrimination involved.These parents are providing and caring for their daughter and while they are doing everything possible for her, they are being denied a simple concession they have sought, whereas if the child had a physical disability, they would qualify for each of these concessions. I acknowledge the main issue pertains to the delay I have raised this morning but the other issue, in respect of SI 353 of 1994 and the section of the Finance Act 1989 with which one is dealing and under which the regulations were introduced, also must be addressed. However, the issue is the current delay in dealing with the appeal process. Moreover, my understanding is the appeals must be dealt with in Dublin and even though these people are from Cork, they must travel to Dublin to deal with those appeals. However, the delay is unsatisfactory and I raise this matter in that context.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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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.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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Is the Senator satisfied?

Colm Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I am not sure whether I agree with its contents fully. However, on the issue I have raised about intellectual disability, where there is huge discrimination, I referred to a case in which the parents are elderly but still are on the road each day to look after their daughter and were the State to provide full-time care, there would be a huge cost to it. In this case, all the parents seek is the concession in respect of car tax on the car, which they are being refused at present. They live in a rural area without public transport and even if public transport was available, the person concerned must be accompanied by an adult at all times. It is in this context that I ask that the current regulations be considered to ascertain whether this type of family can be catered for because they have done everything possible to care for their child and as I stated, that child is now 52 years of age.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I again thank the Senator. While I do not have to hand the exact details of the case, as the Department has stated, it keeps all these issues under review on a regular basis and I certainly will feed in the example raised by the Senator regarding the situation faced by that family. On the point raised by the Senator, I note they do not seek access to the whole lot but this probably deals with many more issues than simply motor tax on the car. However, I certainly will revert to the Department and raise this matter with it. In addition, the Senator has raised a second issue, which I will bring to the Minister's attention directly.

Colm Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State.