Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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261. To ask the Minister for Health when a new scheme will be introduced to replace the motorised transport grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11987/23]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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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 2017-2022, a Transport Working Group was established to advance Action 104 of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy. The commitment under Action 104 was 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, which I chaired, considered proposals to inform the development of a coordinated plan for the enhancement of Government-funded transport and mobility supports available to people with disabilities. The Report was published in February 2023 and is available on the website of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.