Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for coming to the House. I want to highlight the appalling existing arrangements that apply to the charging of VAT on vehicles modified for the use of people with significant disabilities. These modifications are absolutely necessary and can only be made in countries outside Ireland.

I am delighted that we are joined in the Chamber by Ms Leigh Gath, an inveterate campaigner for equality for people with disabilities. Leigh is a thalidomide survivor born without arms or legs. She learned to drive at age 17 and has been driving since then. As a result of the significant disability arising from thalidomide, Leigh has always had to have her vehicles modified. That must be done in the UK because there is nobody in Ireland with the expertise to install the modifications. One can imagine Leigh's shock when she brought her new modified vehicle into Ireland at the end of October, having been approved for the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme, to be told she owed Revenue a further €23,100 before she could register her van. She has stated: "I was particularly shocked because the vehicle is my legs, my independence, as I live in rural Ireland, and I will be a prisoner in my own home without being able to drive."

The Minister of State and I both know this is part of a larger problem. In the UK, modified vehicles for people with disabilities are not subject to VAT. In Ireland, no other equipment needed for the independence of someone with a disability, such as a powered wheelchair, hoist or special bed, is subject to VAT. Why are vehicles for people who have been approved through the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme landed with VAT? As things stand, the greater the level of disability, the greater the amount of punishment dealt out by Revenue. How on earth can that be justified? Charging VAT on the modifications as well as the base price of the vehicle is especially harsh.

For the past couple of weeks, I have listened to Senators demanding an extension of the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector. They may have a point, but how can it be justified that hotel owners pay VAT at 9% while the Government expects Leigh and people like her to pay 23% on vehicles that allow them to be part of our society? Does this not go against all principles of equality and natural justice? Is not the current practice nothing more than a despicable rip-off targeting some of the most vulnerable people in our society?

The Minister for Finance has committed to a comprehensive review of the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has agreed that this review should be incorporated into the work of the transport working group established under the national disability inclusion strategy. That group is chaired by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, which is why I particularly welcome her attendance today. The group held its final meeting on 8 December and expects to produce its report shortly. Will the Minister confirm when it will be published and whether it will deal comprehensively with the gross inequality of charging people with disabilities VAT on modifications to their vehicles? Is the Government content to continue to pay lip service to equality while allowing the appalling practice to continue of loading VAT charges onto the cost of the modification of vehicles for people with disabilities?

The Minister of State will have a script to read in response to my questions. However, she has always been straightforward and helpful to date in dealing with Commencement matters. I ask her not to kick to touch on this issue. People like Leigh have already been waiting far too long for answers. She is seeking a meeting with the Minister for Finance to discuss this issue and she would also really appreciate a meeting with the Minister of State. Perhaps the Minister of State will talk to Leigh, who has taken the time and trouble to come here from Limerick, after this debate.I look forward to the Minister of State's response.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Before I call the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, I welcome Ms Gath to the House. It is great to see her here.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I, too, welcome Ms Gath.

The wording of the Commencement matter is as follows: "The need for the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to make a statement on the report of the national disability inclusion strategy transport working group as it pertains to the review of the disabled drivers scheme" and the urgent need to reform same. The statement Senator Gavin has received was prepared to assist me in answering it. The working group included officials from the Departments of Finance, Health, Social Protection and Transport; representatives of the HSE and the National Disability Authority; three members of the disability stakeholder group, of whom two were individuals with a disability and one a representative of a disabled persons' organisation; and a representative from the Irish Wheelchair Association. Those were the participants in the working group as part of action 104 of the national disability inclusion strategy, NDIS. The group was convened at my request and I chaired it in order to bring all the stakeholders to that conversation and move it along.

The Government is committed to continuously advancing our delivery under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, including on transport issues. The matter raised relates to a specific action in the national disability inclusion strategy, namely, action 104, which commits us to leading a review of Government-funded transport and mobility schemes for people with disabilities to make proposals for the development of a co-ordinated plan for enhanced provision going forward. The action was designed to inform further work on how transport supports for people with disabilities could be better co-ordinated. In that sense, the purpose of the action was not to conduct a detailed examination of any single specific scheme but to look at the broader transport landscape for people with disabilities and discuss better overall co-ordination of supports. The transport working group was established to achieve progress under action 104. I chaired the group and we made significant progress in addressing the task set out before us. While the disabled drivers and passengers scheme was not the dedicated focus of the working group, it was included in the work of the group following a request from the Minister for Finance who holds responsibility for the scheme. As such, the role and functioning of the scheme were included in the overall development of the proposals for more cohesive overall transport supports.

The Department of Finance provided a number of inputs to the group, based on the work of a criteria subgroup, which it convened specifically on the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme. The membership of the criteria subgroup comprised former members of the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal and principal medical officers in the HSE. Its purpose was to capture their experiences, expertise and perspectives with respect to the practical operational and administrative challenges of the scheme, as well as to explore what alternative vehicular arrangements were available for those with mobility issues based on international experience. The main conclusion of the criteria subgroup is that the scheme needs to be replaced with a fit for purpose, needs-based vehicular adaptation scheme in line with best international practice. The NDIS working group's task has now been completed and the final report, which synthesises submissions made by all members of the transport working group, has been finalised and will be published on the Department's website shortly.

The Senator asked when that will happen. When we met in December, I was not happy with the level of detail that was included in the draft before me at that time. To be fair to the Department of Finance, it had made some submissions which I felt were not reflected in the report. These deal with many of the issues the Senator has outlined. If we are holding a working group, the submissions of all actors must be included. For this reason, I sent the report back to be rewritten before agreeing to publish it. That is the current position, and that is because I was fortunate that the Departments of Finance, Health, Social Protection and Transport participated.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for the response. I want to zone in on her final comments, which I welcome in the first instance.I want to get clarity for Leigh and people like her. As I said, Leigh has taken the time to come up here today. Right now, she is being charged VAT for modifications to her vehicle, which are required. There is a story about HAP but it is not particularly interesting. I thank Senator O'Loughlin. I need to get clarity from the Minister of State. Is the report going to deal with the specific issue of VAT being charged to some of the most vulnerable people in our society on modifications to vehicles? I am asking the Minister of State because Deputy Carroll MacNeill, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, who was in House last week, told us that Deputy Rabbitte's report is going to deal with issues in relation to this. I need to know for Leigh and others like her, whether the report is going to deal, finally, with that issue and injustice of being charged VAT for modifications to vehicles. Leigh has already paid €45,000 in tax on the car that came in. When she comes back from holiday later this year, her car will be impounded. That is what she is facing. The injustice is clear for all to see. The Minister of State has the power to change that. She has a report that is about to be published. If it includes the right recommendation, it will change that. I need to understand whether that recommendation will be in the report.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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While I would like to have all the power Senator Gavan feels I have, I do not have the final power because it sits with the Department of Finance. I pulled together all Departments where funding is spent on transport-related matters. Some €43 million is spent in health, €65 million is spent regarding the primary medical certificate, not to mind New Directions and what is spent on other transport schemes. I was collating all the evidence of what we spend in transport to support persons with disabilities to ensure they have the proper suite of measures available and to look at the VAT arrangements and inequalities within it. That is what my report will be producing for consideration. It will go back to the Department of Finance as to what its next steps are in rolling out a more inclusive opportunity for persons with disabilities to have access to meet their needs. There is going to be a final report. I am not going to lay before the House today what it is going to cover or not. It will be going back-----

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State make a recommendation?

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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It will be covering all aspects.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State make a recommendation on that point?