Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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480. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if a proposal to extend the validity period of disabled parking permits from two years to five years will be supported; if a renewal process akin to that of driver licences for persons over 70 years of age will be examined (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10762/19]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The statutory basis for the disabled parking permit is laid out in the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, as amended, which state that a permit shall be valid for 2 years from its date of issue.

In the early years of the scheme one of the organisations responsible for issuing the permits made a case that permits be issued for a 5-year period to holders of primary medical certificates, a request that was subsequently considered in detail as part of this Department's review of the disabled parking scheme in 2011.  The review ultimately decided that extending the validity period would increase the opportunity for cards that are no longer needed to be used fraudulently, and recommended that that the period be kept at 2 years.

I appreciate that a longer validity period would prove more convenient to the user.  This convenience, however, pales in comparison to the serious challenge posed to the entire disabled parking scheme by the fraudulent use of permits, a growing problem highlighted by the implementation of Operation Enable in 2017.  Disabled parking permit fraud is selfish and illegal and has a considerable negative knock-on effect on legitimate permit holders and on their ability to access everyday services.  In order to combat this scourge and ensure that disabled parking bays are available to those who genuinely need them, it is crucial that every permit be carefully tracked and any unused permit be taken out of circulation. It is for this reason that any extension of the validity period has been ruled out for the time being.

The Deputy's proposal that a separate renewal process be introduced for applicants over the age of 70 is also unworkable as it is not in keeping with the principles of the scheme.  Disabled parking permits are issued strictly on the basis of mobility impairment, not age, and introducing a separate renewal process would risk sending out the wrong message that the permit is an age-related entitlement.