Parliamentary question addressed to the Minister for Health

To ask the Minister for Health if he has received an interim report from the group reviewing the mobility allowance and motorised transport grant as payments under both of these heads terminate in June; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Reply

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Ms. Lynch)

The Government is very conscious of the needs of people with a disability. The payment of Mobility Allowance will continue until June. A Project Review Group has been working to seek solutions which do not run counter to the Equal Status Acts. An interim report regarding the immediate issue of the closure of the mobility allowance and motorised transport grant schemes has now been submitted to both Minister Reilly and myself and is under consideration with a view to bringing it to Government in the near future. A final report, looking at the wider issue of general transport for people with disabilities will be submitted in June. At this stage, it is not possible to pre-empt the outcome of the review or the decision of the Government. Announcements will be made following a Government decision on the matter.