Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Finance to note the report regarding a person (details supplied); to make urgent regulations to allow the person to benefit from the new scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3642/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Scheme provides relief from VAT and VRT (up to a certain limit) on the purchase of an adapted car for transport of a person with specific severe and permanent physical disabilities, a fuel grant, and an exemption from Motor Tax.

I note the comments in the letter attached by the Deputy. I understand that the Secretary General of my Department has recently received a letter from the Ombudsman for Children outlining a number of concerns regarding the Scheme.

To qualify for the Scheme, an applicant must have a permanent and severe physical disability within the terms of the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations (S.I. 353 of 1994) and satisfy one of the six medical criteria outlined in the Regulations. These are that a person must:

- 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;

- have the medical condition of dwarfism and have serious difficulties of movement of the lower limbs.

The Scheme represents a significant tax expenditure. Between the Vehicle Registration Tax and VAT foregone, and the repayment of excise on fuel used by members of the Scheme represented a cost of €50.3 million to the Exchequer in 2015, an increase of 3.5% on the 2014 cost. This figure does not include the revenue foregone to the Local Government Fund in the respect of the relief from Motor Tax provided to members of the Scheme. In terms of the numbers of claims to the Scheme in 2015, there were 5,263 claims for relief from Vehicle Registration Tax and VAT, and 12,107 claims in respect of the repayment of excise on the fuel element of the Scheme.

I recognise the important role that the Scheme plays in expanding the mobility of citizens with disabilities, and I have managed to maintain the relief at current levels throughout the crisis despite the requirement for significant fiscal consolidation. 

I frequently receive correspondence from applicants who do not meet the qualifying criteria but feel that they could benefit from the Scheme, such as is the case in the letter attached. While I am sympathetic to those, such as the person concerned, who do not qualify for Scheme, I cannot, at this time, in the still challenging fiscal environment and given the scale and scope of the Scheme, expand the medical criteria beyond the six currently provided for in the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994.