The Ombudsman for Public Services has criticised what he called a "shameful" lack of adequate support for drivers with disabilities.
Ger Deering highlighted severe delays to the establishment of appropriate schemes, saying "no one seems to be willing to take action".
In his office's annual report, Mr Deering points to issues with one scheme in particular - the Motorised Transport Grant - a means-tested payment for people with disabilities who need to buy a car in order to work.
It was closed to new applicants in 2013 and has not yet been replaced, despite the Government announcing plans to introduce an alternative ten years ago.
The Ombudsman also highlighted problems around the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers scheme, which provides tax reliefs linked to buying and using specially constructed or adapted vehicles.
He said the scheme has "inequitable and inadequate eligibility criteria in primary legislation" and that it has had no appeals mechanism in place since November 2021.
According to Mr Deering, it amounts to "shameful neglect", and he stressed his intention to continue highlighting the issue until real progress is achieved.
In response to the report, the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland said that grants are "not a social assistance" but "an economic enabler" It added that it was "sad that the political vision on this subject is smaller than it was 55 years ago".
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Michael Doyle, Director of Assisted Living with the Irish Wheelchair Association said that he agreed with Mr Deering, and that the report addressed how this issue has not been addressed by Government in eleven years and the impact it is having on peoples’ lives.
He added that the State needed to take ownership of that, and that the issue had to be addressed "as a matter of urgency".
He said that grant schemes that represented additional money for equipment for those with disabilities who drove were stopped, and that they were essential to enable access for people to participate in society and live independently, in a context when costs for motorists went up over the last ten years.
He said the reduction of these schemes additional to disability payments represented a significant amount to those who needed it but "wasn’t big money for the Government".
He added that the report by the Ombudsman was welcome, but it did not give timelines and in order to take the findings forward from now, a leadership approach was needed.
Padraig Lowry from Co Laois lost part of his right arm in an accident in New Zealand in 2015.
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said he was frustrated with the lack of support available when he returned to Ireland.
"I presumed there would be help or grants. But I didn't qualify for anything because of where I was missing a limb. That was the hardest part - realising I had another mountain to climb," he said.
He said he believes that more grants should be available to people with disabilities to help pay for appropriate adaptations to get them back on the road.
Mr Lowry said it is important for people to "continue on your normal day-to-day life. Even if that means you can get back to work a bit sooner. It would be a massive help just to get people back their independence again."
The Government has said that a review of support is under way, with both the Department of Finance, and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, recently publishing reports on the issue.
Speaking in the Dáil, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the lack of adequate support for drivers with disabilities "is going on far too long".
He said that he "will be convening a meeting in the next couple of weeks of all the key departments" to find a solution "as soon as possible".
Mr Varadkar said that he "is very cognisant" of the report from the Ombudsman.
He was responding to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who said that "these schemes are lifelines" for those who need them, and who have been "abandoned" for the past decade since payments were scrapped.
