Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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586. To ask the Minister for Health when an alternative to the mobility allowance scheme will be introduced following the closure of the scheme to new applicants in February of this year due to the requirements of the Equal Status acts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28502/14]

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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591. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the mobility allowance and motorised transport grant schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28533/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 586 and 591 together.

Conscious of the reports of the Ombudsman regarding the legal status of the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant Schemes in the context of the Equal Status Acts, the Government decided to close both schemes to new applications on 26th February 2013. Following the work of the Review Group on Transport Supports for People with Disabilities and the Inter-Departmental Group tasked by Government to consider details of a statutory replacement for the discontinued schemes, the Government decided in November 2013, that the preparatory work required for a new travel subsidy scheme and associated statutory provisions should be progressed by the Minister for Health. Work is ongoing on the policy proposals to be brought to Government for the drafting of primary legislation for a new scheme.

The Health Service Executive continues to make payment to the 4,700 people who were in receipt of the Mobility Allowance payment in February 2013.