Written answers

Thursday, 3 March 2005

5:00 pm

Gay Mitchell (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for Finance his plans for reform of the tax concessions for disabled drivers. [7136/05]

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on the contents of the report produced by the interdepartmental group which examined the 1994 disabled drivers and disabled passengers tax concession regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7144/05]

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to answer Questions Nos. 24 and 49 together.

The disabled drivers and disabled passengers (tax concessions) scheme is open to people with disabilities who meet the specified criteria and have obtained a primary medical certificate to that effect. The senior area medical officer attached to the local Health Service Executive is responsible for both the medical assessment and the issue of the medical certificate. Where the issue of the required certificate is refused, this can be appealed to the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal, an independent body, whose decision is final. The medical criteria for the purposes of the tax concessions under this scheme are set out in the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994. Six different types of disablement are listed under the regulations and a qualifying person must satisfy one or more of them.

An individual who obtains a primary medical certificate qualifies for remission or repayment of vehicle registration tax, VRT, repayment of value added tax, VAT, on the purchase of the vehicle and a repayment of VAT on the cost of adaptation of the vehicle. Repayment of the excise duty on fuel used in the motor vehicle and exemption from annual road tax to local authorities are also allowed.

An interdepartmental review group was convened to review the operation of the scheme. The terms of reference of the group were to examine the operation of the existing scheme, including the difficulties experienced by the various groups and individuals involved with it, both on an administrative and user level, and to consider the feasibility of alternative schemes, with a view to assisting the Minister for Finance in determining the future direction of the scheme.

The group's report was published on my Department's website in July 2004 and copies have been placed in the Oireachtas library. It sets out in detail the genesis and development of the scheme. It examines the current benefits, the qualifying medical criteria, the Exchequer costs, relationship with other schemes and similar schemes in other countries. The report also makes a number of recommendations, both immediate and long-term, encompassing the operation of the appeals process and options for the future development of the scheme.

Following on from the report's recommendations concerning the appeals process, amendments to the regulations governing the scheme were made to improve the operation of the appeals process. These were signed by the Minister for Finance on 23 July 2004.

The amendments provided for changes as follows: expanding the panel of medical practitioners serving on the medical board of appeal from three to five, and; amending the appeals process by (a) introducing a six month waiting period between an appeal and subsequent application, and (b) introducing the requirement for a second or subsequent application to be certified by a registered medical practitioner to the effect that there has been material disimprovement in the medical condition since the previous application.

Given the scale and scope of the scheme, further changes can only be made after very careful consideration. For this reason, the Government has decided that the Minister for Finance will consider the recommendations contained in the report of the interdepartmental review group in the context of the annual budgetary process having regard to the existing and prospective cost of the scheme.

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