Vol. 468 No. 1
87 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the extra costs faced by people with hearing disabilities due to the costs of minicom telephones; and if he will undertake to help financially in the purchase of these phones. [14505/96]
Limerick East): I understand that there are extra costs to people with hearing disabilities due to the costs of minicom telephones. The National Association for the Deaf provides a grant of £125 per minicom telephone to people with hearing impairments to a maximum of two minicom telephones per person. According to the National Association for the Deaf that while the actual cost of a minicom telephone is £338 inclusive of VAT, this grant along with refund of VAT means that people with hearing impairment pay in the region of £155 per minicom telephone purchased.
While I do not directly provide funding to the National Association for the Deaf to provide this grant service I do allocate £54,000 towards the running of other services by this Association. The National Association for the Deaf and other organisations are eligible to apply through the health boards under the scheme of grants to voluntary organisations for assistance towards grant aiding minicom telephones.
88 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the burdensome nature of the costs incurred by people with hearing disabilities in the purchase of hearing aids and batteries; and if he will undertake to provide funds in this regard. [14507/96]
Limerick East): Health boards in conjunction with the National Association for the Deaf and the National Rehabilitation Board provide a broad range of technical aids and appliances for people with hearing impairments. The provision of assistance in any individual case would be a matter for the relevant health board having regard to the circumstances of the individual medical card holders and school-going children receive aids and appliances free of charge and assistance may be given in the case of hardship to those not eligible for free services.
Additional funding of £2 million in 1995 and £1 million in 1996 was allocated to health boards for the development of services for people with physical disabilities, some of this to be devoted to the provision of aids and appliances. In addition, in 1995, in response to the increasing demands for assistance I made an additional once-off grant of £500,000 through the health boards for the provision of aids and appliances.
