Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I think it is important and positive that all the groups and speakers have addressed the committee today. The points raised are relevant and sharp and put it up to the committee and people in a position of power regarding the transport infrastructure. I will not go through it company by company but Dublin Bus clearly has issues and questions to answer. The same applies to Bus Éireann. I will use my time to talk about Iarnród Éireann because one thing that struck me from the papers and the presentations is that Iarnród Éireann seems to have more questions to answer than some of the others.

Five points jumped out at me. The idea that a person with a disability would have to give 48 hours notice in order to get on a train is not unbelievable, because I do believe it, but it has to be dealt with. It will be 2018 in a month's time. Then there are the questions of the cutback in the number of quiet carriages and, if my understanding is correct, the reduction in the number of wheelchair spaces in the new fleet. There also is a whole range of issues that arise from the presence of unmanned stations such as anti-social behaviour and the protection of people, including women, at night time in stations etc. However, for people with disabilities to be obliged to be dealing with unmanned stations in the year 2017 is outrageous. To add insult to injury, in defiance of EU regulations there is a €5 charge-----