Ger Deering: It's not fair that disabled people are stuck at home due to government inaction

A multi-departmental approach is needed to find a solution that will assist people with disabilities to access personal transport 

Ombudsman Ger Deering: 'It is simply not acceptable that a person is confined to their home, unable to participate equally and actively in their community or at work because they are unable to access transport.'

We all have the right to participate fully and equally in society. This includes travelling to work, socialising, or meeting family and friends. 

These rights are enshrined in UN conventions and domestic law. Some people, especially people with disabilities, face challenges and barriers in undertaking these tasks. 

Access to transport for many people can be an extremely important equaliser and enabler, providing independence, and can change the lives of people living with a disability in a positive way.

In Ireland, this was recognised by governments as far back as 1968 when a Mobility Allowance was put in place and in 1979 with the introduction of the Motorised Transport Grant. 

These schemes were not perfect, but they provided assistance to thousands of people with their transport needs.

In 2012, my predecessor Emily O’Reilly found that the criteria in the schemes were unacceptably restrictive in terms of the assessment criteria, and discriminatory as they had an upper age limit. 

The government’s response at the time was, to say the least, extraordinary. 

What was required was a broadening of the criteria and the removal of the upper age limit. Instead, in 2013, the government closed the schemes to new applicants and promised a replacement scheme. However, for a decade these vital schemes have neither been reformed nor replaced.

Disabled Drivers/ Passengers Schemes

Since the closure of these schemes the very restrictive Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme is the only potential support available. 

The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme provides a range of tax reliefs linked to the purchase and adaptation of vehicles by drivers and passengers with a disability.  

A person must meet one of six very onerous medical criteria to be eligible for assistance under this scheme. 

Since as far back as 2001 the Office of the Ombudsman has been receiving complaints about the excessively restrictive nature of the scheme. 

Despite this the Government, in the Finance Act 2020 enshrine these very restrictive medical criteria in primary legislation. 

The medical criteria are that a person must:

• Be wholly or almost wholly without the use of both legs; or 
• Be wholly without the use of one of their legs and almost wholly without the use of the other leg such that they are severely restricted as to movement of their lower limbs; or 
• Be without both hands or without both arms; or 
• Be without one or both legs; or 
• Be wholly or almost wholly without the use of both hands or arms and wholly or almost wholly without the use of one leg;  or 
• Have the medical condition of "dwarfism" and serious difficulties of movement of the lower limbs.

These criteria are excessively restrictive. It has resulted in people who do not meet the criteria, but who are equally as immobile as those who do and are also deserving of assistance, being excluded.

I believe this view was shared by the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal, an independent body set up on a statutory basis by the Department of Finance to review applications from individuals who were unsuccessful in applying for the scheme. 

Resignation of appeal board members

The members of the appeal board resigned in 2021. Despite a number of attempts, it appears the Government has found it difficult to replace the board members. 

I understand that the National Rehabilitation Hospital has also withdrawn from its role in the appeals process and that there are in the region of 1,000 appeals outstanding. 

However, the real issue to be resolved is the restrictive nature of this only remaining scheme, and the closure of the other two schemes to new applicants for over 10 years.

It is very worrying that each time a problem is identified with a scheme designed to assist the transport needs of people with disabilities, the response by Government has been to either discontinue the scheme without replacement, or to enshrine the inequitable eligibility criteria in primary legislation. 

It is difficult to understand how any government can stand over such actions impacting some of the most vulnerable in our society. 

We need to see real progress and a system of access to personal transport supports put in place that is fair and inclusive to all people living with a disability.  

Another working group or action plan is not sufficient; people who are adversely affected by this lack of access to transport need and deserve immediate and decisive action.

It is simply not acceptable that a person is confined to their home, unable to participate equally and actively in their community or at work because they are unable to access transport.

We have had too many reports and too many false promises. This unfair and inequitable situation cannot be allowed to continue.

To finish on a note of optimism, I very much welcome the statement in the Dáil on June 14 by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that he will be convening a meeting in the next few weeks of all the key departments with a view to finding a solution that will assist people with disabilities to access personal transport.

I believe his involvement could bring about real progress and hope for people with disabilities.

• Ger Deering is the Ombudsman