Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guest speakers today. I thank them for attending to answer questions around accessibility for people with disabilities on various transport systems in Ireland. I have a number of questions and points I wish to make and I will then hand over to the witnesses for answers.

This committee is tasked with ensuring the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, which means that people with disabilities must be treated as equal citizens in our community. In order for citizens to experience freedom and independence, accessible transport is of the utmost importance. The organisations present, as the bodies with the oversight for out transport systems in this country, have an obligation to ensure inclusion on all our transport systems.

Access is still a huge problem, however. I am talking about wheelchair accessible stops and poor infrastructure in urban areas. We have insufficient wheelchair places on our buses, the lifts at stations are frequently not working and there is a lack of changing places and toilets. Wheelchair users must book trains hours in advance of using them. Many issues are still there.

The provision of services would be much improved if there was a proper consultation process with people with disabilities and disabled persons' organisations. That consultation should be meaningful and not just a box-ticking exercise where people are asked for input about project designs and those opinions should be taken on board and not just ignored.

How many board members do the organisations have with a lived experience of disability? An initiative by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in the previous Government was to appoint people with disabilities to the boards of each of the public transport agencies as a means of driving continuous quality and improving our sector. Did that happen?

How many members of the organisations' design teams have a lived experience of disability? That would be very important on an ongoing basis in order that they would have constant consultation on different projects.

To the National Transport Authority, NTA, in particular, why are yellow bus stop poles being replaced with steel poles despite a recommendation from the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, NCBI, to the contrary? Steel poles would be difficult for any of us to see against the background of the built environment but for people with visual impairment in particular, it would be impossible.

I am told TFI Local Link bus services are refusing to accept people with disabilities without a carer. That is contrary to independence. Not all people with disabilities need or have a carer. They should, therefore, have the ability to board a bus without needing to have an assistant with them. I am told that individual pick-ups are also not carried out for people with disabilities by the TFI Local Link services.

How many changing places and toilet facilities are provided in bus and train stations throughout the country? There are a lack of changing places and toilets in the country as a whole. How many are in public places such as stations?

I also have concerns about cycle lanes, particularly for people with visual impairments. Again, it is not often taken into account where cycle lanes are placed. As we know, bicycles are silent. Can something be done with people for visual impairments in that line? I am conscious that I have asked many questions with a limited amount of time. I am sure some of my colleagues will bring up some of those issues again, however. I would appreciate the witnesses' answers.