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Health Minister James Reilly (File photo) Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland
mobility allowance
'A sick bureaucratic monster' - Department slammed after disability payments axed
The government confirmed last night that it will axe the Mobility Allowance and the Motorised Transport Grant because it would be too costly to widen the schemes to ensure compliance with equality laws.
8.00am, 27 Feb 2013
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THE DECISION BY the Department of Health to axe two allowances for people with disabilities has been described as “appalling” by The Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI)
In a statement last night the Department confirmed that the 4,700 people who receive a Mobility Allowance and 300 people who receive a Motorised Transport Grant will no longer receive these payments and will instead receive an alternative that is yet to be devised.
“It is important to note that the decision is in no way intended to save costs and the funding involved in the two schemes (€10.6 million) remains committed to meeting the transport needs of relevant people,” the Department said.
Both schemes have been closed to new entrants after the Department accepted that the two schemes – which barred entrants who are over 65 – were in breach of equality law – following a finding by the Ombusdsman Emily O’Reilly - but it said it would be too costly to widen both schemes.
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DFI chief executive John Dolan told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the news last night had come “out of the blue” and said the discontinuation of both schemes “strikes at the heart of people who are already struggling to make ends meet”.
Dolan said there had been “no consultation, no engagement” on the matter with disability groups.
He said that the Department of Health had been in contact with the Ombudsman about the breach of the Equal Status Act that the two payments created for the last four years but that no action to correct this anomaly had been taken.
He said that the Department of Health is a “sick bureaucratic monster” which is taking a “Bart Simpson approach”.
Dolan said the Department’s attitude was: “It’s always someone else’s fault that we have to screw people with disabilities to the floor.”
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Give over stop worrying about cyber attacks and threats on the national security and all that hse crap. Now we have more cycle lanes. What’s not to love!! Eamonn Ryan ye legend.
The defence forces could have retained the personnel that they lost through stupidity on their own behalf in not granting these personnel with an extra €20 in tech pay which they were value for money so the same were head hunted by private companies.
@Noel O’Neill: €20 a week. You think people are leaving over €20 a week?
A CIS technician can be on as low as 40k in the DF, while their counterparts in private sector are getting 80k plus.
€20 a week…. That gave me a giggle….
It only takes one rogue machine to bring a whole network down. As long as the antvirus software is kept continuously up to date, systems shouldn’t be compromised.
@Mike Dunne: Seriously you think anti virus works like that. It is a game of cat and mouse.
You cant have an antivirus program that stops a virus it does not know. Hence the updates.
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