Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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84. To ask the Minister for Finance the financial assistance he will provide to a person (details supplied) in County Kildare with reference to the purchase of a specifically adapted vehicle; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6373/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Scheme provides relief from VAT and Vehicle Registration Tax (up to a certain limit) on the purchase of an adapted car for transport of a person with specific severe and permanent physical disabilities, and an exemption from motor tax in respect of that vehicle, and relief on fuel costs (up to a certain limit). As the Deputy is aware, an applicant must have a Primary Medical Certificate to qualify for the scheme.  To receive a Primary Medical Certificate, an applicant must be permanently and severely disabled within the terms of the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations, 1994 (S.I. 353 of 1994) and satisfy one of the following conditions:

- 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 Senior Medical Officer for the relevant local Health Service Executive administrative area makes a professional clinical determination as to whether an individual applicant satisfies the medical criteria. A successful applicant is provided with a Primary Medical Certificate, which is required to claim the reliefs provided for in the Regulations. An unsuccessful applicant can appeal the decision of the Senior Medical Officer to the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal, which makes a new clinical determination in respect of the individual. The Medical Board of Appeal is independent in the exercise of its functions.

The Scheme and qualifying criteria were designed specifically for those with severe physical disabilities and are, therefore, necessarily precise.  I regularly receive representations from applicants with a disability who feel they would benefit from the scheme given the nature of their disability and their individual circumstances, but do not meet the qualifying criteria set out in the Regulations. While I have sympathy with these cases, the Scheme represents a significant tax expenditure. Between the Vehicle Registration Tax and VAT foregone, and the assistance with fuel costs used by members of the Scheme, based on provisional figures the Scheme represented a cost of €50.3 million to the Exchequer in 2015, an increase of €1.7 million 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.

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.

Should an applicant satisfy the above medical criteria, they can then apply for VAT and VRT relief, up to certain limits, on the purchase of an adapted vehicle.