November 19 2009

Parliamentary Questions

• Tax concessions for disabled drivers and disabled passengers
• Recommendations of the interdepartmental review group made in 2002 on tax concessions for disabled drivers and disabled passengers
• Funding for sports inclusion disability officer programme
• Number of local authorities that are continuing to accept applications under the housing aid, mobility aids and housing adaption disability schemes

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

• Tax concessions for disabled drivers and disabled passengers

Deputy James Reilly (FG): asked the Minister for Finance the details of the tax concessions for disabled drivers and disabled passengers; the number of persons that have benefited from the credit for each of the past ten years for which the most recent information is available; the cost per annum for same;

Minister for Finance (Deputy Brian Lenihan): The tax concessions available under the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Scheme for a qualifying person are as follows.

• For a disabled driver, the relief (from VRT and VAT) is a maximum of €9,525, with excise relief on up to 600 gallons (2728 litres) of fuel per annum.For a disabled passenger the relief (from VRT and VAT) is a maximum of €15,875, with excise relief on up to 600 gallons (2728 litres) of fuel per annum.
• Organisations looking after the disabled are entitled to a relief of €15,875 per vehicle and excise relief on up to 900 gallons (4092 litres) of fuel per annum.

Vehicles coming under the scheme are also exempt from annual road tax. In the year of purchase of a car a claimant receives benefits relating to the purchase of the car, fuel relief and road tax, in other years the benefits received are in respect of fuel and road tax. The number of claims for VRT relief under the scheme, and the cost of the tax concessions (VRT, VAT and excise on fuel) for the past ten years, is set out in the following table. The cost of the exemption from annual road tax is not readily available but it is estimated to have been around €8 million in 2008, bringing the overall cost of the scheme in that year to around €76 million.

• Recommendations of the interdepartmental review group made in 2002 on tax concessions for disabled drivers and disabled passengers

Deputy James Reilly (FG): asked the Minister for Finance his view on the recommendations of the interdepartmental review group made in 2002 on tax concessions for disabled drivers and disabled passengers;

Minister for Finance (Deputy Brian Lenihan): A special interdepartmental review group reviewed the operation of the disabled drivers scheme. It examined the current benefits, the qualifying medical criteria, the Exchequer costs, relationship with other schemes and similar schemes in other countries. The report also made a number of recommendations, both immediate and long-term, referring respectively to the operation of the appeals process and options for the future development of the scheme. The group’s report is published on my Department’s website. Some 13,000 people benefited under the scheme in 2008 at an overall estimated cost of €76 million. Any changes would have to be considered in the context of the annual budget.

• Funding for sports inclusion disability officer programme

Deputy Jimmy Deenihan (FG): asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if the sports inclusion disability officer programme will continue to be funded through the dormant account stream of Pobal;

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism (Deputy Martin Cullen): Special funding of €2.5 million was allocated from the dormant accounts fund for the appointment of 20 Sports Inclusion Development Officers (SIDOs) in Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) in 2008. The SIDOs were appointed on two-year contracts to provide opportunities for persons with a disability to participate in sport and physical activity. A network of 33 LSPs have been set up throughout the country by the Irish Sports Council (ISC) to coordinate and promote sport at local level especially amongst specific target groups such as older people, girls and women, people with disabilities, unemployed people, and those who live in identified disadvantaged communities. The special dormant accounts funding was in addition to the annual funding provided to the LSPs by the ISC for programmes and initiatives aimed at increasing participation in recreational sport. The ISC has allocated €6 million to the LSPs in 2009. The continuation of the SIDO scheme from 2010 will be dependent on the outcome of the 2010 Estimates deliberations. 

• Number of local authorities that are continuing to accept applications under the housing aid, mobility aids and housing adaption disability schemes

Deputy Richard Bruton (FG): asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of local authorities that are continuing to accept applications under the housing aid, mobility aids and housing adaption disability schemes;

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Deputy Michael Finneran): Allocations totalling €79.562 million for 2009 were notified to localauthorities under the Housing Adaptation Grant Scheme for Older People and People with aDisability, the Mobility Aids Grant Scheme and the older Disabled Persons and EssentialRepairs Grant Schemes on 7 May 2009. Having regard to the continued priority which theGovernment attaches to these schemes and following an evaluation of the ongoing level ofdemand for grants, the level of expenditure to date and the capacity of local authorities toprocess and approve additional applications in the current year, I approved a supplementaryallocation of approximately €12.5 million to some 26 local authorities on 12 October, 2009.The detailed administration of the grant schemes, including the assessment and approval ofapplications and the payment of grants to individual applicants, is the responsibility of therelevant local authority. It is a matter for each local authority to decide on the specific level offunding to be directed towards each of the individual schemes, from within the allocationnotified to them by my Department, and to manage the operation of the schemes in their areasfrom within their allocation. While my Department has not been formally advised of any localauthorities having discontinued the schemes in their areas, they are very heavily subscribedand available funding has been heavily committed in many areas.

BACK TO MAIN DÁIL DEBATES & QUESTIONS PAGE