Ms Joan Carthy:

I thank the committee for the invitation to today’s meeting to discuss the barriers to transport for people with disabilities. In particular, I thank the members of this committee who have supported the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, in the past and in the run-up to the budget.

The Irish Wheelchair Association is Ireland's leading representative organisation and service provider for people with physical disabilities. We advocate for the needs of people with physical disabilities and provide services and support to more than 20,000 members in homes and communities throughout Ireland. Everything we do is driven by a vision of an Ireland where people with disabilities can enjoy equal rights, choices and opportunities and live their lives independently. Mobility is very important for IWA members. As a service provider we have our own fleet of 140 accessible buses throughout the country and we work with transport operators to ensure that buses, trains and taxis are wheelchair friendly.

Transport is key to people with physical disabilities realising their independence. When it comes to holding down a job, socialising or going on holidays, just getting there can often be the greatest challenge to overcome. Unbelievably, in 2018 Ireland still does not have a fully accessible public transport system or taxi service. Almost 50% of people living with a disability experience difficulty going outside their homes, and due to the lack of reliable public transport, only 24% of people with disabilities use community trains and only 35% avail of city buses.

Through our membership we know that people with physical disabilities have no faith in public transport due to repeated bad experiences. This unreliable, disjointed service would not be accepted or tolerated by any other group in society.

As was pointed out, Article 9 of the UNCRPD states:

To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. These measures shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility.

I would like to take members through the different public transport systems and the barriers they pose to people with disabilities and then look at some solutions. Currently, only 5% of taxis throughout the country are wheelchair accessible and while TFI has put in place a wheelchair accessible vehicle grants scheme to support the wider availability of wheelchair accessible vehicles, it does not go far enough to incentivise taxi drivers to invest in making their vehicles more accessible. Large contracts are awarded by the State on an annual basis to taxi operators to whom it has been reported that more than €60,000 a day is paid out through the HSE. This is where a major change could happen without any cost to the State, while, at the same time, incentivising taxi drivers to adapt their vehicles. In the tendering process for the awarding of these contacts considerable additional weighting should be given to taxi operators with accessible vehicles. While this would not change the position overnight, it should increase the number of accessible taxis on the road to an acceptable number servicing everyone in the country.

While the Dublin Bus fleet is fully wheelchair accessible, there is still an issue with people taking up the allocated spaces with buggies, trolleys and bags. The IWA recently ran an awareness campaign with TFI and Dublin Bus which was launched by the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Sport and the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath. Legislation is needed to empower Dublin Bus drivers to ask persons to vacate the spaces and impose a penalty on those who do not do so. More than 60% of Bus Éireann coaches are wheelchair accessible. However, few, if any, accessible services are currently provided owing to the lack of accessible coach stop infrastructure. Do members believe there is any use in having a car if they do not have keys and cannot access the car? I believe they would think this to be pointless and frustrating. As well as funding for the ongoing purchase of accessible coaches, funding should also be made available to ensure a nationwide network of accessible coach stops will be in place by 2020. Some pilot schemes between County Donegal and Dublin are being rolled out, but this issue has been ongoing for years. For how many more years will people with disabilities have to wait before they can access a bus and can travel like everyone else, to enter the workforce or education or be able to travel for social reasons? We are not asking for accessible stops on dangerous country roads but in cities, towns and villages.

Many trains and train stations continue to provide significant barriers for commuters with disabilities. There are many unmanned stations throughout the country and commuters with disabilities are faced with the uncertainty that ramps or space will be available when they arrive at a station. People with disabilities have to give 24 hours notice of travel, thus preventing them from making travel plans spontaneously or in emergencies. Do committee members plan all of their travel arrangements 24 hours in advance? Perhaps they might do sometimes, but they do not every time they want to leave their home. I am sure that once they have decided where they want to go, they just get up and go. The notice time for the DART has been reduced from 24 hours to four for people with disabilities who are supposed to be grateful for this change. However, it does not make the experience any different for them. The DART has put in place a manual to help people with disabilities to navigate their way through using the service, but how does this change the experience of travel for a person with a disability?

I will outline a scenario. Imagine getting up in the morning and deciding to go to town to do some shopping or visit a friend, or, worse, a sick relative. People with disabilities first have to arrange a time to meet, always keeping in mind that they need to give four hours' notice. They then need to find their guide to travelling on the DART for people with disabilities, ring the number provided and state the station from which they will start their journey and the station to which they will return. They must go to the station hoping a member of staff who is being deployed from another station will be there in time to assist with the ramp and that no one else with a disability will need assistance at another station at the same time. They must live in hope that when they reach their destination, there will be a staff member there to assist them to exit the DART. Now add to this scenario that, owing to their disability, they have a speech impediment and that their hand function is so poor that using a phone does not work for them. Perhaps someone is a tourist with a disability and does not have a guide or perhaps it is someone who works and has to go through this every day. That is the reality for people with disabilities.

Unmanned stations do not work for people with disabilities and the allocation of appropriate funding is needed until such time as Irish Rail services are fully wheelchair accessible. Padraic who is an IWA member spoke recently about the issues as he tried to commute to work every day. He relies on public transport to commute from Bray into Dublin city centre. Each morning he must contact his local DART station to ensure the lifts in the station will work, that the station will be manned by a staff member to assist with ramp access and that he will be able to disembark safely at the other end of the journey. Too often he is met by obstacles, problems and challenges which prohibit him from commuting to work. I spoke to him earlier this week. He had yet again been left sitting on a train with no one to help him disembark, which meant he was late for work again.

In 2013 the motorised transport grant and mobility allowance were stopped and while it had been decided that the HSE would continue to pay the 4,133 people in receipt of the allowance at the time, there has been no replacement of the schemes for those who find themselves in need of accessible transport. This has had a major knock-on effect in many aspects of people's lives, including their health. People with disabilities cancel hospital appointments as they have no transport and cannot afford to pay for a taxi. The Government’s response has been that legislation is at an advanced stage, but it has been at an advanced stage for quite some time. The Government has spent time launching inclusion and employment strategies to assist people with disabilities to become more involved in society. This is hugely welcome, but they are no more than hollow words if the same Government ignores the major transport barriers that hinder the very inclusion we seek to ensure. The aspiration to include people with disabilities will never come to fruition if one of the major barriers is not dealt with in a comprehensive manner.

The IWA asks the committee to consider a number of recommendations on behalf of people with disabilities. When large contracts are being awarded by the State to taxi operators, considerable additional weighting should be given in the tendering process to taxi operators with accessible vehicles. With regard to Bus Éireann services, as well as funding for the ongoing purchase of accessible coaches, funding should also be made available to ensure a nationwide network of accessible coach stops will be in place by 2020. Train stations thorughout the country should be manned and people with disabilities should not have to give notice of their travel plans in order that they will have the right to travel as freely as everyone else. We ask that legislation be put in place to empower Dublin Bus drivers to ask persons to vacate the spaces allocated for people with disabilities and impose a penalty on those who do not and that the legislation to reinstate the motorised transport grant and mobility allowance be brought forward.

I again thank the committee for inviting the IWA to present on transport matters that affect people with disabilities. I am happy to take questions members may have.