Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Stanton, to the House.

Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)
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I am glad to have the opportunity to raise this issue. I am raising it on behalf of my colleague and friend, Councillor Ciaran Brogan, in Donegal, who has brought to my attention concerns from constituents in Letterkenny and other parts of the county around the primary medical certificate. I have also received queries from people from various parts of the country in recent weeks on this issue.

The problem relates to the primary medical certificate issuing. Effectively, the primary medical certificate is required for tax reliefs that are available for the purchase and use of specifically-constructed or adapted vehicles by drivers and passengers with a disability. Traditionally, the certificate was also used for the motorised transport grant, but that grant is gone now and I call on the Government to reinstate it as quickly as possible.The qualifying criteria for the primary medical certificate is so stringent as to make it almost prohibitive for anyone to qualify unless he or she has a very severe disability, which is unfair to people who have genuine life-limiting disabilities. The criteria is comprised of six elements and effectively a person must be without both arms, without a leg, and confined to a wheelchair. The criteria are much too stringent and prohibitive.

The initial application is submitted to the HSE at a local level. If the application for a primary medical certificate is refused, the applicant can lodge an appeal with the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal, which is based in a hospital in Dún Laoghaire. I have dealt with a number of cases on behalf of individuals who have gone through the appeals process having initially been refused. I have spoken to the medical professionals involved with the appeals board in Dún Laoghaire as well and they have told me that the criteria are far too strict. They have also said that they have the deepest sympathy for the individuals who come through the doors of the hospital to lodge an appeal, but the hands of the medical professionals are tied because of the criteria, which are very unfair.

I will give three examples of individuals who have contacted me about these cases. The first one is a young blind lady in Donegal who is a constituent of Councillor Ciaran Brogan. Recently she underwent a kidney transplant and her mobility is severely affected. She requires a car or transportation to get to college and study and also to work. She went through the process but she was refused in Dún Laoghaire at the appeal level. Again, the situation is very unfair. I know of a young man in his 30s living in Letterkenny, County Donegal, who lost one arm due to a severe form of cancer. He is severely disabled yet he has been refused a primary medical certificate. Again, that is wrong. I know of a young mother in County Meath who lost an arm due to a rare form of cancer. Again, she was refused the primary medical certificate. I am speaking about genuine people who qualify under any other criteria in terms of having a disability and certainly their mobility is severely affected.

I call for the scheme to be reviewed and for it to take into consideration a proposal to have a tiered system so that the criteria would allow individuals who have lost one arm or who have a less severe disability to qualify for a tiered approach to grant aid or tax exemption under the scheme. Both of these things are required and I hope that the Minister of State will have some news about the scheme.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter in the House today. The Minister for Finance sends his apologies. He is answering oral questions in the Dáil so he cannot be here.

The Minister for Finance has asked me to let the House know the following. The disabled drivers and disabled passengers (tax concessions) scheme provides relief from VAT and vehicle registration tax, VRT, up to certain limits, an exemption from motor tax, and a grant in respect of fuel on the purchase of an adapted car for the transport of a person with specific, severe and permanent physical disabilities.

To qualify for the scheme an applicant must be in possession of a primary medical certificate. To qualify for a primary medical certificate an applicant must be permanently and severely disabled within the terms of the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994 and satisfy one of the following conditions as mentioned by the Senator: 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; or have the medical condition of dwarfism and have serious difficulties of movement of the lower limbs.

The senior medical officer for the relevant local HSE 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 to claim the benefits 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, DDMBA, which makes a new clinical determination in respect of the individual. The regulations mandate that the DDMBA 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 his or her condition.

The scheme represents significant tax expenditure. Between VRT and VAT forgone and the fuel grant the scheme, cost has risen from €50 million in 2013 to €65 million in both 2016 and 2017, increasing further to €70 million in 2018. This figure does not include the revenue forgone in respect of the relief from motor tax provided to members of the scheme.

The disability criteria for the tax concessions available under the scheme have changed over time. When the scheme was first introduced in 1968, the legislation only allowed for one medical ground. In 1989, four new medical grounds were added, and in 1994, one new medical ground was added.

The Minister for Finance also reminds the House that the scheme was examined in 2015 to target the available resources at those most in need of the scheme. This resulted in the creation of a new category of vehicle called the "extensively adapted vehicle", allowing claims of up to €22,000 where cost of modifications exceed the cost of the vehicle itself. Further in 2018, access to the scheme for charitable organisations was significantly broadened by removing the requirement for 50% of the people availing of the scheme to hold primary medical certificates. The Minister has no plans to change the current criteria for the scheme or to make any further changes to the scheme.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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That is not the answer that the Senator was looking for. We are against the clock-----

Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)
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Quite right, a Chathaoirligh.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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-----so I will allow a brief supplementary.

Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)
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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.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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Do not shoot the messenger. The Minister of State is only giving a response supplied by the Minister for Finance.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that. The Minister understands and fully sympathises with any person who suffers from a serious physical disability and cannot access the scheme under the current criteria. Given the scope and scale of the scheme, however, any possible changes to it could only be made after very careful consideration and taking into account the existing prospective cost of the scheme, the availability of other schemes which seek to help with the mobility of disabled persons, and the interaction between each of these schemes. In this regard, the Department of Health is working on revised proposals for a transport support payments scheme to make individual payments as a contribution towards transport costs to people with severe disabilities who are on a low income and who cannot access public transport. This scheme will replace the motorised transport grant which was closed to new applicants in 2013. That is some bit of news.

I repeat that the Minister for Finance has no current plans to change the medical criteria for accessing the disabled drivers and disabled passengers (tax concessions) scheme. I note the following. In 2018, the total number of vehicle claims paid out was 6,422, the total number of fuel grant claims paid was 17,640, and the total monetary value of these claims was €70 million. Again, there are no plans to change but there will be some changes due to the transport support payments scheme being considered.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State and Senator Ó Domhnaill.