Vol. 516 No. 6
255 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Finance the reason a primary medical certificate was not granted to a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny; if he will consider relaxing the criteria relating to the scheme; the number of appeals dealt with on a yearly basis for each of the past three years; and the number of successful appeals. [8889/00]
The qualifying medical criteria for relief from tax under the Disabled Drivers' and Disabled Passengers' (Tax Concessions) Regulations, 1994, are set out in Regulation 3 of those regulations, a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library. Where a person does not meet one or more of the medical criteria, issue of a primary certificate will normally be refused by the appropriate senior area medical officer, who is an official of the local health board. The Revenue Commissioners cannot consider an application for relief under the scheme where a certificate has been refused. In cases where issue of the primary medical certificate is refused, it is open to the applicant to appeal this refusal to the Disabled Drivers' Medical Board of Appeal, an independent board whose decision is final.
The board of appeal has advised the Revenue Commissioners that they have no record of an appeal by the person named at the address stated by the Deputy. However, a person of the same name, but living at a different Kilkenny address, was examined by the board on 27 July 1996. It was found that the person did not meet the medical criteria at that time and the issue of the certificate was refused. It is open to the person concerned to reapply for the certificate if there has been a material change in his or her medical condition to the extent that the medical criteria may now be met.
The information requested by the Deputy as to the number of appeals to the board is as follows:
|
Year |
Number of Appeals considered by the Board |
Successful |
|
1997 |
97 |
29 |
|
1998 |
136 |
31 |
|
1999 |
170 |
15 |
