A59521 DDAI SteeringWheel23 - Flipbook - Page 4
Judge by ability, not disability
Winter 2023
CEO Report
We are pleased to produce another digital version of Steering Wheel
and its arrival signals the close of 2023.
As I said last year, Steering Wheel gives us the
opportunity to re昀氀ect back and look forward. This
year, we end the year in forward looking mode as
we complete the 昀椀nishing touches on our three
year Strategic Plan 2024-2026, which will be
published early in the New Year. We would like
to thank all of those members who contributed
to the surveys we conducted. The results which
we published at the AGM in May, form a central
part of the Strategic Plan and were the major
in昀氀uence on the focus the plan takes. 2023 saw
the AGM restored to its more normal time of
the year but we continued with the combined
in-person and on-line event as we had done in
2022.
We hope that after the disruption of the previous
four years, 2023 saw the beginning of a return
to core activities where we lost some focus and
momentum over that period. Apart from the
pandemic, we engaged in two large IT projects
and two smaller projects, which we were
required to pursue. In hindsight, the workload
involved placed considerable strain on the half
dozen personnel directly involved. The good
news is that development phase is complete.
We now look forward to reaping the rewards of
that investment over the next 12-18 months and
that this will be re昀氀ected in a more streamlined,
better Parking Permit Administration service. The
proportion of parking permit holders availing
of the online portal is increasing steadily and if
one can become familiar with it, it is the fastest
method of renewing a permit. The investment
as a whole will also assist us in providing
better targeted support to our members in
relation to our core expertise around motoring.
4
A good example of restoration has been the
revival of our Driving Services. We now have
a steady presence in terms of on-road driving
assessments and part of our strategy in 2024 and
beyond is restore and grow this service further.
There has also been greater engagement on
our advocacy activities, although much of this
was driven by events rather than the structured
approach we are planning through 2024
and beyond. We were involved in the urgent
changes to the Disabled Drivers and Disabled
Passengers Tax Relief Scheme and the addition
of a new 4th category announced in July 2023
for those a昀昀ected by the extraordinary rise in
VRT charges in the 2022 Finance Act. Some
initial drafting errors have been resolved in the
current act and it is hoped the new measures will
now be available to all those it was intended to
target. On the 1st December 2023, the Minister
of Finance stated that no further changes will
be made to the current scheme as it is to be
superseded by a new transport scheme. This
new scheme is being developed by an inter
departmental committee which has already
had two rounds of discussions, most recently in
November. Advocacy in this area continues to be
a priority for 2024.
“any further changes to the existing Disabled
Drivers and Disabled Passengers Tax Relief
Scheme would run counter to NDIS proposals
to entirely replace the scheme with a modern,
昀椀t-for-purpose vehicular adaptation scheme”
Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath
As many of you may know, there has also been
an ongoing review of the Parking Permit Scheme.
