Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

175. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to reinstate the motorised transport grant for new applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3515/23]

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

The Government decided to close the Motorised Transport Grantand Mobility Allowance administrative 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.

Under the National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017 - 2021, the Department of Transport has responsibility for the continued development of the availability of accessible public transport and is committed to this in recognition of the importance of such services to the lives of people with disabilities.

Under the National Disability Inclusion Strategy, a Transport Working Group has been established to advance Action 104 of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy. The commitment under Action 104 is to ‘lead a review of transport supports encompassing all Government funded transport and mobility schemes for people with disabilities, to enhance the options for transport to work or employment supports for people with disabilities and [to] develop proposals for development of a coordinated plan for such provision. This plan will have regard to making the most efficient use of available transport resources’.

The Working Group will consider proposals to inform the development of a coordinated plan for the enhancement of Government-funded transport and mobility supports available to people with disabilities.

Developments which will impact on the policy options include the following: -

The ongoing progress by the Department of Transport in providing accessible public transport nationally and that Department's review of active travel and public transport policy, including accessible public transport;

The Cost of Disability Study, commissioned by the Department of Social Protection, which will inform policy direction in relation to the provision of adequate supports to meet the needs of people with disabilities, including transport costs; and

The Department of Finance's review of the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Scheme.