Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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235. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason for the cost of €35 for a person who applies for a disability parking permit; his plans to eliminate this charge; if there is some way a person can be exempt from this charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55348/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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While my Department is responsible for the legislation underpinning the disabled parking scheme, day to day running of the scheme is under the remit of the two designated issuing bodies: the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland and the Irish Wheelchair Association. The Department has no involvement in setting fees and this is solely a matter for the two issuing bodies. 

I understand that the purpose of the application fee is, firstly, to cover the administrative costs of processing applications and producing permits and, secondly, to allow for investment in improving the security features of the card. While some countries operate disabled parking schemes without charging such a fee, local authorities in Ireland generally offer free parking to disabled parking permit holders in areas that would otherwise be metred.