Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of a section 140 motion that was tabled at Dublin City Council yesterday evening. The motion, which sought to challenge the draft Dublin city transport plan, was brought by an Independent councillor, Damian O'Farrell. It is very commendable in that he pointed out that disabled persons' organisations, DPOs, had not been consulted regarding the Dublin transport plan. This plan will have major implications for more than 1 million citizens and Dublin people. It shows how the council has disregarded the components of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. This sets out that deep consultation with disabled persons' organisations must be engaged in. One cannot just talk to service providers; one must talk to DPOs and have a close consultation with them. This is under Article 4(3) of the UNCRPD and is also de facto set out in section 69(2) of the Local Government Act 2001. With regard to that, the Government has fully endorsed the UNCRPD. The Taoiseach, Deputy Harris, has given a commitment to fully ratify all the protocols, including the optional protocol, within the life of the Government. Dublin City Council must have regard for the objectives and the will of the Government and the will of the people in this regard. The council cannot set that aside and disregard it. I am sorry to say that the motion put forward by Councillor O'Farrell was amended by other councillors to put in an add-on which amounts to a box-ticking exercise of talking to some DPOs later on.

This should really have been flagged to the chief executive because Dublin City Council's non-provision of an accessible version of the draft Dublin city transport plan to a DPO, namely, Voice of Vision Impairment, was challenged. It was found to breach the terms of the settlement of a Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, case from 2018. The council has even disregarded the recommendation of the WRC that it must seriously engage in close consultation. I ask for a meeting to be arranged between the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the DPOs that will be most impacted by this radical plan for Dublin transport. I welcome the plan, but it cannot be in breach of the UNCRPD.