Outrage as 400 set to lose mobility grants

Date Published: 21-Mar-2013

by CIARAN TIERNEY

A Government decision to inform up to 400 people with disabilities in Galway this week that their Mobility Allowance is about to be scrapped – before they have come up with an alternative scheme – has been slammed by campaigners.

Letters were sent out through the post over the past week to inform 370 people in the city and county that the Mobility Allowance is to be discontinued from late June, with a further 40 or so set to be hit by a cut to the motorized transport grant.

The cuts, described as “savage” by one disability support campaigner, will see people with disabilities being hit with a 20% reduction to their monthly income and cause further hardship to their families.

One man who lives alone contacted the Galway City Tribune yesterday to say that he had received a letter informing him that his entire allowance of €208.50 would be scrapped from June 28 next.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil last month that the €10.6 million allocated for the two schemes this year had been ringfenced and he hoped a new “legal” scheme can be devised in the coming months.

“This is one of the most cynical moves I have ever heard of,” said Eamon Walsh of Hope4Disability yesterday.

Mr Walsh, who is based in Headford, contested the 2011 General Election in Galway West as an Independent. He subsequently joined the Labour Party, with a view towards running in the next local elections in the Tuam area, but told the Galway City Tribune these latest cuts have forced him to consider leaving the party.

He is now considering his position and may follow Colm Keaveney TD, who lost the Labour Party whip after voting against disability cuts in last December’s Budget.

“The people who received this payment were dependant on it to get around. They people who are receiving it need it. To think that this cut is coming from a member of the Labour Party makes me feel ashamed,” said Mr Walsh.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.