Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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155. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if there was a public call for submissions on the review of the disabled parking scheme; when this consultation closed to submissions; the number of submissions that were made; to detail the groups which were contacted and asked to make a submission; if disabled persons' organisations were contacted directly and asked to make a submission; and the stages that are left in this review process. [24484/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Earlier this year my Department undertook a targeted stakeholder consultation process, as part of a broader tripartite review of the Disabled Parking Scheme. As my Department receives and responds to submissions and representations from the public on the scheme on a regular and ongoing basis, it was agreed to seek the direct input of disability advocacy groups and other relevant stakeholders, rather than issuing an open call for submissions to the public.

30 stakeholders were invited to participate in the targeted consultation (see table below), 16 of which returned submissions. The initial deadline for submissions of 15 March 2024 was extended to 22 March 2024 upon request.

This stakeholder consultation marked the second stage of the overall review process, the first stage of which, an overview of the current operation of the Scheme, having being published on gov.ie earlier this year ( gov - Review of the Disabled Parking Scheme (www.gov.ie) ). My Department is now undertaking a detailed examination of the legal basis of the Disabled Parking Scheme, and submissions received in response to the consultation will feed into any consideration of the legislative position.