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

It is great to meet everyone again. I congratulate them once more on the “Prime Time” programme some weeks ago. It was very powerful, as were their statements here. The more we hear from people with disabilities, the better. We do that all the time at this committee where we hear about all the different issues, but we need to continue to hear them until change is brought about.

I think Ms Kilcawley is wonderful and it is wonderful what she has achieved in her junior certificate results despite the fact the reasonable accommodations provided to her were not sufficient. I know she has met with Ministers and different politicians to discuss her experience of the junior certificate in the hope of changing it not only for herself but also for others. It is wonderful and I hope the State Examinations Commission and the Minister will take on board what she has said so that when Ms Kilcawley is doing her leaving certificate, she will be on a fair playing field so that she can achieve her full potential. I think she is going far anyway.

It is wonderful too to have Ms Smith, Mr. Moran and Mr. Delaney here too. They are three people with disabilities in full-time employment. We hear so many people with disabilities who are unemployed or underemployed. They are wonderful role models. The issues they identify are the ones we hear all the time, such as the fear of the loss of secondary benefits such as the medical card and the free travel pass. Representatives from four different Departments were before the committee last week and we made those points to them. We asked the Department of Social Protection to look at this again because it is a disincentive for disabled people to get a job if they fear they are going to lose their medical card or their free travel pass, which are both very important. We have to do this if we are serious about increasing the number of people we have in employment. We have one of the lowest rates of disabled people in employment and it is a shameful situation. If we are serious about addressing it, we need to look at the issues that are stopping people from getting jobs. The fear of loss of secondary benefits is very real.

The issue of wheelchairs has been raised by a number of speakers. It seems to be because there is only one company. Is there a monopoly on who carries out repairs and who provides wheelchairs? We hear about the long delays in getting wheelchairs fixed or replaced. Sometimes it is months and sometimes years and it is not satisfactory at all. I presume it is the HSE which gives the contract to a particular company, but whoever does so needs to revisit that. Does anyone know when the contract expires with the current provider? It might be something that is worth looking at again.

I was in London some years ago and I thought the buses were amazing. We used buses a lot when we were there. If there was a wheelchair user at a bus stop, the ramp would go down, the person would get on and there was never an issue. It was a seamless provision of transport and I saw none of the problems that were identified here, particularly by Mr. Nelson and Ms Smith, who reported buses not being able to facilitate them. I presume buggies can be folded up and stored elsewhere. They should not be put in a wheelchair place on a bus. We need training for our Dublin Bus operators and our bus operators all over. They need training in disability awareness, and by the sound of it, they also need training in customer relations because it does not sound like they are very polite or nice either.

I admire each of our guests in what they do and how they are representing disabled people, speaking up for them and identifying the issues. Mr. Moran said he does not feel he is politically significant enough but I think disabled people are. In the previous census they numbered 13.5% and we expect it will be higher when we get the information about disability in the most recent census. We will see more people involved and being elected into politics. Quotas should be something we look at. Mr. Moran has a strong voice and politicians should be sure they are aware of that in everything they do.

As I said, we had officials from different Departments here last week and we have had different Ministers and Departments before the committee. We have done that because we want to ensure they do not say things are the responsibility of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. We make the point every time to every Minister and Department that all of them have a responsibility to ensure their policies are disability-proofed and to put sufficient money and plans in place to address whatever challenges or barriers are pertinent to their portfolio. That is something we will continue to do.