Most of the 5,000-odd people with disabilities currently in receipt of the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant should not see a huge difference in the value of their benefits when they go to apply for them again, according to a member of a Government project group tasked with devising a replacement scheme.
The two schemes have been closed to new applicants since February, when the Government said that they were in contravention of the Equal Status Act by excluding people over 65, as revealed in a report last year by the Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly.
The Department of Health set up a project group to recommend an alternative scheme complying with equality legislation that could be delivered within the available budget of €10.6 million.
Martin Naughton of the Disability Federation of Ireland, a member of the project group, said that while the final solution had yet to be worked out, he was “fairly confident” that up to three-quarters of them would not see a huge change in the value and nature of their allocations.
“I would say that there is a large number of people currently receiving it that I would hope – when I say large, I mean upwards of three quarters – will find not a huge difference,” he said.
Last year, 4,700 people received a mobility allowance and 300 received a motorised transport grant.
The project group, which includes representatives of the HSE, the National Disability Authority and the Irish Wheelchair Association, was due to report to the Government this month following a public consultation.
But there was considerable uproar at the announcement in February, with several groups concerned that benefits under any new scheme would be cut drastically because no extra funding would be made available, despite potentially huge numbers of people over 65 who could now qualify.
The Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, told an Oireachtas committee that expanding the schemes in their current forms would be “completely unaffordable”, costing €500 million over three years.
Among the transport services that were provided through the old schemes were tax concessions, the rural transport programme, free public transport for people with disabilities, Vantastic and similar schemes, and car parking.
“There is no feeling around at all that people are getting things that they don’t deserve,” said Mr Naughton. “There is an understanding that the people who are getting it do very much need it.
“In saying that, there might be a slight variation, different options for some of those people.”
Mr Naughton said all the members of the project group were committed to a solution that involved minimum adjustment, and were bringing lots of ideas and feedback from around the country.
The Irish Wheelchair Association issued an online questionnaire to its members on the new scheme, which asked questions about how people should be assessed, who should be eligible for supports, and how often should a qualification for supports be reviewed.
