Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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244. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason that there is no appeals mechanism for the refusal of an application for a primary medical certificate; when will he reinstate the disabled drivers' medical board of appeal at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dún Laoghaire; and his views on same. [52839/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme provides relief from Vehicle Registration Tax and VAT on an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant.

The Scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled persons as a driver or as a passenger and also to certain charitable organisations. In order to qualify for relief, the applicant must hold a Primary Medical Certificate issued by the relevant Senior Area Medical Officer (SAMO) or a Board Medical Certificate issued by the Disabled Driver Medical Board of Appeal. To qualify for a Primary Medical Certificate an applicant must be permanently and severely disabled, and satisfy at least one of the six medical criteria.

The Minister has no role in relation to the granting or refusal of PMCs and the HSE and the Medical Board of Appeal must be independent in their clinical determinations.

Following the resignation of all members of the previous Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal, effective from 30th November 2021, two Expression of Interest campaigns have been held, seeking suitable candidates for the Board. The Department of Health leads on all actions and tasks with respect to the Expression of Interest Campaigns. Department of Finance officials provide support to the Department of Health in this matter.

The first campaign closed on 29th April. As there were insufficient suitable candidates arising from the first campaign, a second round was issued with a closing date of 5th July 2022. From these, three suitable candidates have been identified and are being Garda vetted. Five members are legislatively required for a functional Board with a quorum of three needed for any appeal hearing. Two other candidates are being interviewed shortly.

Once these processes have been completed for all candidates the Minister for Finance will then be in a position to appoint any suitable Department of Health nominee to the Board. When the new Board is up and running, it will consider the best way of ensuring outstanding appeals are addressed as quickly as possible.

Requests for appeal hearings can be sent to the DDMBA secretary based in the National Rehabilitation Hospital. New appeal hearing dates will be issued once the new Board is in place. Assessments for the primary medical certificate, by the HSE, are continuing to take place.

Finally, it should be noted that applicants deemed not to have met one of the six eligibility criteria required for a PMC can request another PMC assessment six months after an unsuccessful PMC assessment.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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245. To ask the Minister for Finance if an applicant must meet criteria (details supplied) to be granted a primary medical certificate. [52840/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Disabled Drivers & Disabled Passengers Scheme provides relief from VRT and VAT on the purchase and use of an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant. The car must be purchased before applying for VRT and VAT relief, as applicable to the category of adaptations made to the vehicle.

The Scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled persons who meet one of six medical criteria, as a driver or as a passenger and also to certain organisations. In order to qualify for relief, the applicant must hold a Primary Medical Certificate issued by the relevant Senior Area Medical Officer (SAMO) or a Board Medical Certificate issued by the Disabled Driver Medical Board of Appeal. Certain other qualifying criteria apply in relation to the vehicle, in particular that it must be specially constructed or adapted for use by the applicant.

To qualify for a Primary Medical Certificate an applicant must be permanently and severely disabled, and satisfy at least one of the following medical criteria, in order to obtain a Primary Medical Certificate:

- be wholly or almost wholly without the use of both legs;

- be wholly without the use of one leg and almost wholly without the use of the other leg such that the applicant is severely restricted as to movement of the lower limbs;

- be without both hands or without both arms;

- be without one or both legs;

- be wholly or almost wholly without the use of both hands or arms and wholly or almost wholly without the use of one leg;

- have the medical condition of dwarfism and have serious difficulties of movement of the lower limbs.

These are in line with the criteria outlined in the Deputy's question.

I gave a commitment that a comprehensive review of the scheme, to include a broader review of mobility supports for persons with disabilities, would be undertaken.

In this context I have been working with my Government colleague, Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. We both agreed that the review should be brought within a wider review under the auspices of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS), to examine transport supports encompassing all Government funded transport and mobility schemes for people with disabilities.

As part of my Department’s contribution to the review, it established an information-gathering group to capture the experiences, expertise and perspectives of former DDMBA members and Principal Medical Officers (PMOs) in the HSE. A range of outputs were produced, providing information on the DDS scheme and were submitted to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in July.

The Deputy should note that the NDIS working group, chaired by Minister Anne Rabbitte, with officials from both this Department and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth as well as others, held its first meeting on the 26th January 2022. A stock-taking exercise of existing transport and mobility schemes currently supporting people with disabilities was finalised at its meeting of 6^thSeptember 2022. Members were then asked to put forward proposals for next steps that will be discussed at the next NDIS working group meeting, scheduled for end November. In this regard, I have recently written to Minister’s O’Gorman and Rabbitte submitting my Department’s response to the various questions on which views were sought.

My officials will continue to work closely with officials from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to progress the wider review and on foot of that it is hoped that the NDIS working group will bring forward proposals for consideration.

I cannot comment on any potential changes to the scheme in advance of these proposals.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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246. To ask the Minister for Finance if a newly-granted holder of a primary medical certificate can qualify for tax relief under the disabled drivers' and disabled passengers' scheme in relation to adaptations carried out on a vehicle to make it accessible for their use in advance of them being granted the certificate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52842/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Drivers and Passengers with Disabilities Scheme (DPDS), provides for repayment or remission of VAT and Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), up to a certain limit, on the purchase or adaption of a vehicle for the transport of a person with specific severe and permanent physical disabilities. It also provides for exemption from motor tax in respect of that vehicle, and a fuel grant.

The Scheme is available for a driver or passenger who meets certain medical criteria specified in law and, in order to be eligible under the Scheme, the person must hold a Primary Medical Certificate (PMC) issued in this regard by the HSE. An application to Revenue for tax relief under the Scheme may relate to vehicle adaptations which were undertaken prior to the granting of the PMC, provided that the person holds a valid PMC when the application is made and subject also to the normal statutory time limits on tax claims.

The statutory limitation for tax claims is usually that they must date back no further than the four previous tax years - the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 as amended, Section 959AA(1) refers. In practice, this means that claims for adaptations made since 2018 could be eligible today, but not a claim for adaptations in earlier years.

Full details of the Scheme, including the application procedures in respect of VAT and VRT repayment/remission and the legislative criteria which must be met, are set out in a detailed information leaflet available on the Revenue website.