Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 293: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will review the conditions under which mobility allowance is granted in order that it would cover conditions such as agoraphobia where persons with this condition have a clear need and would benefit from opportunities for mobility. [41508/06]

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
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The mobility allowance is a monthly payment administered by the Health Service Executive, which provides financial support to severely disabled people who are unable to walk or use public transport and is intended to enable them to benefit from a change in surroundings, for example, by financing the occasional taxi journey.

To be eligible to receive the mobility allowance applicants must satisfy the following conditions: Be over 16 years and under 66 years. However, an allowance, once granted, will be continued after the age of 66 as long as the other criteria for eligibility are met; Be living at home or maintained by a health board in any long-term institution; Be unable to walk, even with the use of artificial limbs or other suitable aids, or must be in such a condition of health that the exertion required to walk would be dangerous; Inability to walk has to be likely to persist for at least one year; Moving of the applicant must not have been forbidden for medical reasons; Be in a condition to benefit from a change in surroundings.

It is a matter for the Senior Area Medical Officer in the relevant Health Service Executive area to decide whether the medical criteria are satisfied in each case. My Department currently has no plans to review these qualifying criteria.