The Government has accused Fianna Fáil of “outrageous hypocrisy” for its criticism of the decision to replace the mobility allowance and motorised transport grant for people with disabilities.
During Dáil exchanges about the issue yesterday Taoiseach Enda Kenny referred to a memorandum brought to the previous government that proposed to close the mobility allowance scheme to new applications and abolish the motorised transport grant from March 1st, 2011.
Mr Kenny said the current scheme was being replaced as it was illegal, discriminatory and not in compliance with the Equal Status Act and the Disability Act but he insisted that the €10 million funding for the scheme would be ring-fenced.
He was strongly criticised by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who said the decision was “incomprehensible and wrong”. He described it as a very severe and unprecedented cut which was made without consultation with disability groups.
‘Incoherent approach’
“It amounts to a severe attack on people with disabilities, at the very minimum, and an incoherent approach to people with disabilities, an inability to look across the spectrum and a lack of an overall approach to assist people in what is a very difficult time, which we acknowledge. People with disabilities are unnecessarily bearing the brunt of the Government’s targets,” said Mr Martin.
Later, a senior Government source repeated the Taoiseach’s claim that Fianna Fáil had planned to abolish the schemes without replacing them as the Coalition planned to do.
“For Fianna Fáil to make cynical political use of a particularly vulnerable cohort is deeply cynical given that they had proposed to abolish the schemes without any scheme to replace them,” he said.
‘Outrageous hypocrisy’
Wicklow Fine Gael TD Simon Harris, also accused Mr Martin of “outrageous hypocrisy” given that for the past 13 years Fianna Fáil knew that the current support schemes in place to meet the transport needs of people with disabilities were unsustainable and raised legal issues in relation to equality legislation. “For more than a decade of this time, they were in government and Micheál Martin sat around the cabinet table, most specifically as the minister for health with direct responsibility for rectifying this issue,” he said.
“They failed to act, choosing as they did on so many issues to turn the other way and hope the problem disappeared,” he added.
Mr Harris said that Fianna Fáíl’s negligence in grappling with the issue had created two serious problems.
‘Fearful position’
“Firstly, they left people with disabilities in a fearful position whereby the scheme could be removed at any time for legal reasons. They had all the money they could want in the government coffers and they didn’t address this.
“Secondly, Fianna Fáíl left the taxpayer exposed to a potential challenge to the legality of these payments and to a further bill which could have amounted to hundreds of millions of euro under equality legislation,” he said.
