Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

760. To ask the Minister for Health the cost to the State of the motorised transport grant scheme per annum since its inception; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6567/22]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Motorised Transport Grant was an administrative scheme established in 1968. It was administered by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and operated as a means-tested grant to assist persons with severe disabilities with the purchase or adaptation of a car, where that car was essential to retain employment. The maximum grant, payable once to an individual in any three-year period was €5,020. Prior to the closure of the Scheme in 2013, approximately 300 people per annum qualified for a grant at an estimated cost of €1.3 million per annum.

The Government decided to close both the Motorised Transport Grantand Mobility Allowanceadministrative Schemes in 2013, on foot of the Ombudsman reports in 2011 and 2012 regarding the legal status of both Schemes in the context of the Equal Status Acts.

As the Deputy's question relates to a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.