Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I met Padraic Moran last week. He raised similar issues, some of which were identical to the ones he raised this morning. I have absolutely no reason whatsoever to doubt what he said. He is a person of great courage and good faith. I have asked my officials to meet Iarnród Éireann on all those issues immediately.

I believe the meeting will be tomorrow. The matters will be addressed as quickly as possible, as they are genuine and meaningful. It is absolutely wrong that there should be any lack of contact between people with disability and boards of management. If that is the only link we have, we will have to ask them to improve it. There should not be a brick wall between those people with disability and the management of the company. They have really good reason for complaint.

I listened to what was said this morning, including Ms Murray's comments, and that is precisely why I am ensuring people with disability experiences are put on these boards. I am not saying he necessarily would come through a process but if Mr. Moran or people like him applied and came through the process, they could bang the board table and say what is happening. It would be absolutely direct access between those who on a daily basis are using the public transport and the chief executive who makes the decisions. That is my broad response. We will put in people with this experience and they will bang the table. The comments are correct and I worry about the disconnect between those people referred to by members and the people at the top. It is still there, and that is what we are trying to remedy.