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April 2011 - Too Old to be Equal?

An Ombudsman investigation into the illegal refusal of Mobility Allowance to people over 66 years of age

The complainant's name and that of his late sister have been changed in this Report to protect their identities.

Executive Summary of the Report

  Executive Summary of the Report (pdf, 27 kb)

Text Summary of the Investigation Report

Full Report

This report refers to appendices which are only available as separate pdf documents (see below).  If you have difficulty accessing these pdf documents and require an alternative format please contact our Access Officer

  Too Old to be Equal? - Full Report (pdf, 574 kb)

Contents

Chapter 1 - Background and Preliminary Examination

1.1 The Complaint

1.2 Mobility Allowance

1.3 Appeal

1.4 Preliminary Examination of Complaint

1.5 Department of Health and Children – Responsible Body

1.6 The Department's Response

1.7 Death of Complainant’s Sister

Chapter 2 - Notification of Investigation and Response of Department

2.1 Notification of Investigation

2.2 Response of Department

Chapter 3 - Review of Law and Relevant Material

3.1 Legal Instruments - General

3.2 Relevance of International Human Rights Standards

3.3 The Equal Status Act

3.4 Equality Tribunal Decisions

3.5 The McNabola Case

Chapter 4 - Analysis

4.1 Legality of the Upper Age Limit

4.2 Resource Constraints and the Law

4.3 Reviews Promised

4.4 Discrimination within the Over-66 Age Group

4.5 HSE Role

4.6 Department - Reluctance to Act?

Chapter 5 - Department’s Response to Draft Report

5.1 Response Summarised

5.2 Ombudsman’s Comments on Response

Chapter 6 - Findings

Findings 6.1 - 6.3

Chapter 7 - Recommendations

Recommendations 7.1 - 7.2

Appendices

  Appendix 1 (pdf, 210 kb)

Appendix 2

  Appendix 3 (pdf, 100 kb)

Appendix 4

  Appendix 5 (pdf, 88 kb)