Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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132. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will review the legislation currently in place that enables airlines to regard wheelchairs as luggage and which therefore limits compensation for loss or damage of a wheelchair (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47736/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air are protected by Regulation (EC) 1107/2006. Article 12 of this regulation requires that where mobility equipment or assistive devices are lost or damaged whilst being handled at the airport or transported on board aircraft, the passenger to whom the equipment belongs shall be compensated, in accordance with the rules of international, EU and national law. The rules that apply in that case are those of the Montreal Convention, which calculates compensation for damaged equipment by weight rather than value.

The final report of the Steer consultation, commissioned by the European Commission and published in 2020, recognised that this is a significant issue for disability rights, as compensation for damaged equipment may be limited to around €1,400, when the price of some mobility equipment may be much higher. I believe that a number of airlines have waived the compensation limit in the case of loss or damage to mobility equipment.

Any proposals regarding changes to the classification of mobility equipment during air travel is best considered in an EU-wide context. Regulation 1107/2006 is under review at EU level along with Regulation 261/2004 on air passenger rights. The progress this review has, however, been impacted by the international travel crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.