Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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230. To ask the Minister for Finance in respect of the disabled drivers and disabled passengers (tax concessions) regulations 1994, if due consideration will be given to streamlining and modernising the scheme, particularly in reference to the six-point assessment for the primary medical certificate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32800/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Drivers and Passengers with Disabilities (Tax Concessions) Scheme provides relief from VAT and VRT (up to a certain limit) on the purchase of an adapted car for transport of a person with specific severe and permanent physical disabilities, assistance with fuel costs, and an exemption from Motor Tax.

As the Deputy is aware, to qualify for the Scheme an applicant must have a permanent and severe physical disability within the terms of the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Regulations 1994 (S.I. 353 of 1994) and satisfy one of the six qualifying criteria outlined in the Regulations.

The Scheme represents a significant tax expenditure. Between the Vehicle Registration Tax and VAT foregone, and the assistance with fuel costs used by members of the Scheme, based on provisional figures the Scheme represented a cost of €48.6 million to the Exchequer in 2014, an increase of €5.1 million on the 2013 cost. This figure does not include the revenue foregone to the Local Government Fund in the respect of the relief from Motor Tax provided to members of the Scheme.

I regularly receive correspondence from individuals with disabilities that do not meet the criteria but who believe they would benefit from the Scheme. While I have sympathy with those who do not qualify for Scheme, I cannot, given the scale and scope of the Scheme, expand the criteria further within the current context of constrained resources.

I can inform the Deputy that my officials have been undertaking a limited technical examination of Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concession) Regulations to address some of the tax provisions contained therein and it is now at an advanced stage. I expect to be in a position to address certain limitations of the Scheme through secondary legislation very shortly.