“How disabled do you have to be?”

A Moate man whose arm was partially amputated following a motorbike accident in 2019, has asked “how disabled do you have to be?” after being turned down for a tax relief driving scheme for disabled drivers.

David Digan's application was first refused in 2020 because he has “to be wholly without the use of both arms or both hands” to avail of the assistance.

Since then, he has been campaigning to have the “outdated“ criteria attached to The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme to be urgently brought up to modern standards.

“Basically, what I took out of that letter is that I wasn't paralysed enough,” the Moate man told the Westmeath Independent, adding that it was a further blow to him following the devastating accident which left him with permanent paralysis of one arm which had to be partially amputated and without a livelihood, having previously worked as a commercial diver.

“How disabled do you have to be? I'm disabled and I am on disability, so I'm disabled in one way but when it comes to this (primary medical certificate needed for the scheme) I'm not disabled enough.”

The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme (DDS) provides relief from Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) and VAT on the use of an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant.

David has tried every avenue to no avail, including having his case highlighted in the Dáil by Deputy Robert Troy, and he is now calling for an overhaul of the criteria.

While he has managed to get an adapted car, albeit a 2007 vehicle, which has high tax and running costs, rather than a modern, more efficient car, the Moate man is determined to try and effect change for others. “I'd like it changed for disabled people to be more independent. That's the main thing really,” he said.

“It would help not just myself but others because since I highlighted the issue I've had 16 people contact me, saying they are going through the exact same thing,” he said.

In order to qualify for relief, the Department of Finance said the applicant must hold a Primary Medical Certificate (PMC) issued by the relevant HSE Principal Medical Officer (PMO) or a Board Medical Certificate issued by the Disabled Driver Medical Board of Appeal. To qualify, an applicant must be permanently and severely disabled and satisfy at least one of medical criteria that is set out in legislation.

Among those are that you are “wholly or almost wholly without the use of one or both legs” “be without both hands or without both arms” or have the medical condition of dwarfism.

If an applicant is turned down, they can appeal the decision to the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeals within 28 days.

However, David's situation was complicated further by the resignation of Disabled Drivers Medical Board in 2021, which is believed to be due to the strict nature of the criteria. The Department of Finance has indicated that the board was recently replaced, but it still not up and running.

Earlier this year the National Disability Inclusion Strategy Transport Working Group (NDIS TWG) published a report which examined the workings of Government-funded transport and mobility supports for those with a disability, and concluded that the “outdated” Disabled Drivers Scheme should be replaced with a “needs-based, grant-aided vehicular adaptation” as a matter of priority.

However, it added that it will be a matter for Government as to how to take this matter forward, and for now, David can only hope that they prioritse it soon. In September of last year, the father-of-one spoke publicly prior to travelling to Vienna for vital muscle and nerve transfer surgery not available in Ireland. He couldn't be more thankful for the many people who supported his fundraising.

“I've had two more surgeries since I came home, I've had the amputation to my forearm and derotation, where they surgically had to break the humerus bone.”

Ultimately, David from Ava Maria Park, in Moate, said he hopes all of these surgeries lead to a getting a robotic prosthetic and a better quality of life.

“That will be early next year, all going well. There is a lot more to do, I have to go back to Vienna, they have to find nerve signals in that transferred muscle so there's a long way to go.”

More fundraising will be necessary for that, as he envisaged up to three surgeries being needed. “It'll give me some quality of life back. I'll be able to do basic things like tying the shoelace, buttering the slice of bread, preparing food for cooking, small things like that. Small things first and after that it might help me get some work.”