The primary medical certificate provides relief from vehicle registration tax, VAT, and motor tax to assist people with disabilities in the provision of transport so as to improve their mobility, something we all agree is very important. The qualifying criteria for a primary medical certificate are very strict. Essentially, a person has to be severely and permanently disabled, must be without limbs or without the use of both arms to qualify. In my constituency of Cork South-West I have come across dozens of constituents with severe disabilities, many of whom have been unsuccessful in qualifying for a primary medical certificate. One of the people in question is a lady in her late 80s who is suffering from dementia and is doubly incontinent. While she is not completely wheelchair-bound, she suffers from advanced osteoarthritis and is restricted by stiffness. She cannot get into an ordinary car and has to travel by wheelchair taxi to hospital and dental appointments and so on.

Her family were devastated when she was refused a primary medical certificate. They were told they could appeal the decision but this would require the elderly lady to hire a wheelchair taxi, at great expense, to travel the long and arduous journey from west Cork to Dublin and, having done so, the appeal would most likely be unsuccessful. I am calling for a review of this scheme on the basis that the criteria are too strict and exclude genuine cases of serious disabilities.

We all come across the type of cases mentioned by the Deputy. They are independently medically assessed. As the Deputy is aware, it is an independent process. On the appeal, I understand that occasional appeal sittings are held in Cork, which might be more convenient.