mobility grants to be scrapped for disabled in 4 months?

lennyloulou

Just read in todays paper, govt plan to scrap mobility allowance and motorised transport grant for people with disabilities... no new aplicants taken on and those who avail of the deal will continue only for 4 months.
Any one have any more info on this please?
Ombundsman up in arms, disability federation said the move is out of the blue with no negotiations...

darkhorse

lennyloulou wrote: »

Just read in todays paper, govt plan to scrap mobility allowance and motorised transport grant for people with disabilities... no new aplicants taken on and those who avail of the deal will continue only for 4 months.
Any one have any more info on this please?
Ombundsman up in arms, disability federation said the move is out of the blue with no negotiations...

One of those people, Michelle Gaynor, to whom this government is cutting the above allowance from, appeared on Midweek on TV3. I am a man in my fifties, and I was in tears at the sheer bravery of this lady, who is standing up for her most basic of human rights, in spite of her disability. She is truly an inspiration. The pure disrespect and contempt this government has for the citizens of this country is, to put it very mildly, fcuking disgraceful.

lennyloulou

this cut applies directly to my mum. am in a bad state over it. as it is they have cut her grant which allows her to re new a car every 2 yrs- ok we can live without that.
however she gets free road tax and a tiny 15% back on petrol. She is driving a 07 adapted car, will not be able to pay car tax or run this vehicleon her income.
this is a scandal and again the govt are bullying those who are disabled, weak and in need of help in our society. look what they have done to the carers i the budget!! we are becoming a heartless nation. am very upset.

Johnboy1951

lennyloulou wrote: »

this cut applies directly to my mum. am in a bad state over it. as it is they have cut her grant which allows her to re new a car every 2 yrs- ok we can live without that.
however she gets free road tax and a tiny 15% back on petrol. She is driving a 07 adapted car, will not be able to pay car tax or run this vehicleon her income.
this is a scandal and again the govt are bullying those who are disabled, weak and in need of help in our society. look what they have done to the carers i the budget!! we are becoming a heartless nation. am very upset.

I saw no indication that the Disabled Drivers Rebate scheme is affected by this decision ..... which is what you are addressing here.

What is affected is the Health Board grants for the purchase of a vehicle and other assistance from the Health Board (or whatever they are called these days).

So my question is ..... are you sure the Disabled Drivers Rebate scheme is affected?
(That is the scheme whereby qualified people get a refund of duties & taxes on an adapted vehicle and also receive a rebate on the fuel used while they are present in that vehicle)

skippy2

Disabled Drivers Rebate scheme is not affected by this. Completely different scheme

Mental Mickey

skippy2 wrote: »

Disabled Drivers Rebate scheme is not affected by this. Completely different scheme

Correct. It's the Mobility Allowance, and the Motorised Transport Grant that is affected.

Fcuking b******s. There's gonna be a shitstorm over this, I think??? :mad:

Bobobelle

On the news it said that there is going to be an alternative for the mobility allowance. What is the alternitive? And how long are people with disabilities going to have to wait to resume a bit of a social live? I work as a support care worker for a big organisation and because of all the cutbacks in the HSE funding it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep our own bus on the road and for a lot of our servicce users public transport is not an option. Mobility allowance was the only chance people have of keeping appointments and having a social live. It angers me so much that yet again the government is pushing people into a lonely existance of sitting at home with the only distraction being the carers coming in occasionally. I can step in my car after work and walk the dog, go for a meal, meet a friend for coffee, go to the cinema, etc.

Eric Isherwood

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