Dr. Margaret Kennedy:

I am happy to say a few more things. I do think one of the prime issues is unmanned stations.

I am very worried about unmanned stations. There is no doubt that people can become ill very quickly in the cold. If they are left in an unmanned station, they will need help. One might have diabetic episode or a heart attack and may need help. The whole idea of unmanned stations is really contrary to safety and equality. I do not know what Iarnród Éireann is doing. Recently it told me that it will have an app on a smartphone that will help disabled people. I have not quite figured out what this smartphone app will be all about. How can someone access a smartphone if they are going into a diabetic coma, if they are feeling very unwell, if they are visually impaired or if they have a learning disability?

Moreover, a smartphone is very expensive. I spoke to the Irish Rail manager. He was jubilant about this smartphone idea and I said I had not got a smartphone. I have a basic Tesco pay-as-you-go phone. He said to me that I would simply have to upgrade. I was incensed. I pointed out that many disabled people would not be able to afford a smartphone, or even use one. All he said to me, and cynically, was that I would have to upgrade. We have to put up with that.

It is not thinking about equality, and this is the bottom line. This is not about poor little "crips" who need a little extra help. We are citizens of the State who need equality, and that is where it has to start; equality, equality, equality. People have spoken about undergoing disability awareness training programmes with some companies. It is true that we need awareness about what our disabilities and illnesses are about. More often, however, we need disability equality training. What does it mean to make everybody equal? The politics of disability need to be discussed. I will finish there in order that members and other witnesses can have a word, but I feel very strongly about this. I suppose the committee will feel my anger. There are real rights issues at stake. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, UNCRPD, is going to ratified next year, we hope. It will have major implications for all of this, thank God. People are going to have to adhere to standards of equality. My bottom line is equality.