Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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190. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason an organisation (details supplied) is deemed ineligible for the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39782/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme provides relief from VAT and Vehicle Registration Tax, an exemption from motor tax and a grant in respect of fuel expenditure, on the purchase of an adapted car for transport of a permanently and severely disabled person within the terms of the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994.

To qualify for the scheme an applicant must be in possession of a primary medical certificate, which can be obtained if an applicant meets 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.

After six months an unsuccessful applicant can reapply if there is a deterioration in their condition. 

The scheme and qualifying criteria were designed specifically for those with severe physical disabilities and are, therefore, necessarily precise. 

From time to time representations are received on behalf of individuals who feel they would benefit from the scheme but do not qualify under the criteria. While I have sympathy for these cases, given the scale and scope of the scheme, I have no plans to expand the medical criteria beyond the six currently provided for in the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994.