Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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217. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the plans he has to introduce autism-friendly parking and a supporting permit system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11248/22]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Drivers and passengers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are not eligible for the Disabled Parking Scheme and my Department has no plans to introduce a parallel scheme specific to autism.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Disabled Parking Permit is targeted at drivers and passengers with a permanent condition or disability that severely restricts their ability to walk. The intention of this permit is to provide access to parking bays of sufficient size in close proximity to important services such as post offices, banks, pharmacies and shops. The scheme is for people for whom access to such services, because of their limited mobility, would be denied if they could not park and disembark, either because of the size of a parking bay or because they could not park within a short distance of a service.

I would emphasise to the Deputy that issuing a large number of extra permits, either by extending the eligibility criteria to include autism, or by introducing an autism-specific scheme, would put the existing scheme under significant additional pressure and compromise the availability of accessible parking spaces for people with significantly restricted mobility.