Danny Healy-Rae: Demands Appeals Board over Disabled Drivers Scheme
Danny Healy-Rae spoke in a regional group debate about failures in the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passenger Scheme, saying long delays have left around 380 people unable to access adapted vehicles. He urged the minister to establish a new appeals board and criticised the HSE's administration, warning disabled people are "prisoners in their own home".
Scheme delays and scope
The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passenger Scheme provides relief from VRT and VAT for disabled people and for drivers who transport them. Healy-Rae told the committee the scheme has been held up since before Christmas and that approximately 380 people remain on a waiting list, unable to receive adapted vehicles.
Immediate human impact
He described cases where people are effectively confined to their homes, including an elderly woman who requires a specially adapted vehicle and now must wait for an ambulance to attend an appointment. He warned the backlog is forcing people to rely on ambulances and other emergency measures to travel.
Local provision and examples
Healy-Rae highlighted local providers, naming private taxis and hackneys in the locality and citing one operator who purchased two disabled taxis under the scheme to help the community. He used the example of Teddy McAtee to illustrate how local efforts are being undermined by the administrative standstill.
Appeals board and accountability demand
He pressed the minister to put a new appeals board in place to resolve cases more quickly. He criticised the HSE's staffing and ability to run the system, saying if the agency cannot administer the scheme it should acknowledge the failure and hand responsibility to another body.
Tone and urgency of the remarks
The speaker conveyed strong frustration and urgency, at times using forceful language to demand action. He framed the situation as a test of elected representatives' ability to help disabled people, warning that the system is broken and must be fixed immediately.
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Thank you very much, Chairman, and I want to thank the regional group for giving us the opportunity to talk about disabled people, so that we can all highlight ways that we need to help them. So, there is a scheme there, the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passenger Scheme, which provides relief from VRT and VAT for disabled people and disabled people's next of kin or whatever drivers, so that they can take passengers. And, you see, that scheme has held up, totally held up now since before Christmas, and you know, Minister, there's 380 people on the list, and these people are prisoners in their own home. I have one elderly woman now that she needed a specially adapted vehicle, and to go to her appointment now in a week's time, we have to get an ambulance to take her, and that's how serious the thing has got. These people are prisoners in their homes, and we have a lot of private people, taxis, hackneys, in Kinmare, Kinane, Italy, and I know one man that has two disabled taxis purchased in Scheme, to help the locality, and to help people in the locality, Teddy McAtee of Scheme. You see, we have to, I'm asking you, Minister, to put the new appeals board in place. I mean, goddammit, if I can't find someone to drive a vehicle, I must give up, I must park it. If he, to the same story with the cams, he can't hire people. Sure, if he can't hire people in the HSE, he can't put a system in place to deal with disabled people, he must give up. And put your hands up and say, we can, we can do this, we'll have to give up, and find some other entity to take charge. Because if we, as elected representatives, can't help disabled people, surely we must give up, then, because the system is broken. To the next step. Yes, bro! Go on, go, man. I see. Bro, I'm going. Am I good? I want maximum amount of crime, I want to buy some cowers, in basic vontade, of your house, because what we're going to buy now? OK, yeah. What is the bulk of George Edwardkem,
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