Mr. Dylan Nelson:

There is an easy solution to the question of the bus. They give up half the space to a luggage bay and they could take the luggage bay out. Just get rid of it. It is plain and simple. If there is a big buggy in the wheelchair bay, I will ask the driver if the chair will fit and can I try to put the chair in the buggy bay. On occasion, on the newer buses, I have been able to do that. It is definitely doable. Some might ask where are people to put their suitcases but let the person hold it. They can do that. It is not out of this world to say we do not need that. I think it was two years ago that I got on a bus in Belfast which could accommodate three wheelchairs. We can barely accommodate one. We are all on the same island. How are we so far behind? It should not be that way.

I took part in a project to help design the new trains with my colleague Mr. Moran. We had to sit and explain very basic things like not putting seats in the wheelchair bay. They were asking us why because the Luas has them. I used to work for the Luas and I told them to take those seats out. They did not take them out but I did say it. It is so basic. Mr. Moran had to make a point at that meeting about why the piece of glass in front of us was dangerous. I had to wonder why we were having to discuss that when it was just common sense. Common sense is not prevailing.

I said earlier how new homes are being built in Drimnagh. I drove past them and saw there is a footstep in front of every one. My wheelchair cannot climb steps. I cannot climb steps and, believe me, I have had to try. It is 2023 and we are building 30,000 new homes every year, the Government says. How many will be accessible at the end of it?

I only qualify for a one-bedroom apartment. They built 100 new apartments and not one was a one-bed. That rules me out straight away. I am probably going to be waiting another two years for an accessible one-bed apartment.

Another big problem is that if somebody else is behind me on another list, they can come in and skip me and push me back down the list. I have gone from ninth on the list for an apartment to sixth at one point and I am now back up to tenth. When am I getting housed? Nobody knows. I am still stuck in a room that is for an eight-year-old child. I am not the same size as I was when I was eight. I wish I was but I am not. It is not good enough. I do not think somebody should be allowed to come onto the housing list and skip me because that is just not fair. They change their preference and then they switch.