Ms Siobhan Barron:

There is such a way in regard to transport. One of the issues we considered as part of monitoring the transport service was looking at getting information from a range of sources but founded on very clear criteria. We will be working with the National Transport Authority on devising those criteria for measuring accessibility. That information will also come from how complaints are recorded. There was mention of transparency, which will help identify issues and the number of incidents. There is no reason for service providers not to undertake regular customer surveys because customer service is the issue for everybody, including those with disabilities.

The findings on that could be published and could inform further improvements. There is further work to be done in the context of indicators. In looking internationally at what might constitute effective measurement tools, it is something that is quite challenging. We are working with DIT and engaging with Trinity College in respect of data analytics and good systems for improving that. We are continuing to bring that to bear in terms of monitoring transport and other policy areas. I hope that is okay.

I will now address the questions from Senator Dolan regarding what needed to happen overall in terms of getting bodies to work together. One of the challenges is that there are lots of good initiatives but they are happening in isolation. They are being funded by different Departments and agencies. They are not connected. There is an issue around someone's journey from A to B. People may have to use different transport means. They need lots of information about that, reliability of timetables and certainty that there will be a connection between that and that they can easily access it in a most convenient way. It is not just about getting out to a social life. It is obviously critical to employment, education and other things people want to do. While we welcome the fact that transport is a core element of strategies like the comprehensive employment strategy and the national disability strategy, there is a need to look at transport in the round in the context of all those different Departments and how that all joins up and works together, how funding can be more effectively used and how those services can be better linked.

Going back to the question about outcome indicators, there are lots of data. It is a matter of bringing all of that together and using it to better effect. Bringing all of that together and capturing it in some kind of overall strategy with timeframes and indicators would lend itself to measuring this more easily over time but, in particular, to measuring our report to the UN committee in terms of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and how we are advancing the issues relating to that. Many of those issues are captured in the national disability strategy and other frameworks to a degree but a lot more can be done to achieve a joined-up approach across agencies and in respect of sharing of data. There is the question of rural-urban issues, the taxi service and the standards that can apply. It also means that they would all be measured in the same way as well. We feel there is a need to bring Departments and agencies together to create some kind of transport for all plan and looking at it from a universal design approach so it is not, as I said earlier, about an add-on service. It is about a service for everybody, including people with disabilities, and a good customer service from which everybody benefits.

I think a lot of the points were made equally about clear structures and strategies and indicators, which would be part of that; a better way of monitoring accessibility, going back to the points made earlier about a similar way of reporting; the criteria people are measuring against; the different means of gathering data from sources, particularly from customers themselves; and who is charge of that. We have a key role in monitoring the success of policies, programmes and strategies so one could say we are guiding on the monitoring systems and devising that. We are monitoring what is there in a sense but it is very much built on the information that is available to us and our awareness.