A local TD has called for the immediate re-establishment of the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal (DDMBA), and for the expansion of the eligibility criteria for applicants to the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers' Scheme (DDS).
Deputy Brendan Smith says, that the lack of a Board has resulted in a backlog of over 1,000 people seeking to appeal their unsuccessful applications for a primary medical certificate, in order to avail of the DDS.
He pointed out that the Board of Appeal has been non-functioning since November 2021, when all serving Board members resigned due to a disagreement over the eligibility criteria for applicants to the DDS. Deputy Smith says the situation is unacceptable and the Board must be re-established as soon as possible.
Deputy Smith added that the maximum amount of VRT and VAT relief available under the scheme depends on whether an applicant is a disabled driver or passenger and how the car has been adapted. "A lot of those people that should be getting this assistance are being denied it," he continued.
"When that Scheme was established many years ago, it was on the basis of assisting and helping people with a disability or people who have lost the power of some limbs and who haven't got the capacity to drive that they had in the past. And, the adapted car can make so much of a difference."
