Gay Mitchell
Ceist:131 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will direct that a taxi facility be paid for or made available to a person, details supplied, in Dublin 12. [19407/01]
Vol. 539 No. 3
131 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will direct that a taxi facility be paid for or made available to a person, details supplied, in Dublin 12. [19407/01]
The mobility allowance, which is a monthly payment administered by the health boards, provides financial support for people with a severe disability who are unable to walk or use public transport and is intended to enable them to benefit from a change in surroundings – for example, by financing the occasional taxi journey. The rate of the allowance has been increased to a maximum of £90 per month from 1 April 2001. People benefiting from both the mobility allowance and the disabled driver's and disabled passengers (tax concessions) scheme can retain the mobility allowance at the former rate of up to a maximum of £45.60 per month. To be eligible to receive mobility allowance, applicants must satisfy the following conditions: be over 16 years and under 66 years, be living at home or maintained by a health board in any long-term institution, be unable to walk, even with the use of artificial limbs or other suitable aids, or must be in such a condition of health that the exertion required to walk would be dangerous, inability to walk has to be likely to persist for at least one year, moving of the applicant must not have been forbidden for medical reasons, be in a condition to benefit from a change in surroundings.