Mr. Peadar O'Dea:

The Deputy raised some interesting points regarding the Netherlands. I will say, as the Deputy acknowledged, that the visual impairment aspect of the Netherlands is a nightmare. I have a sister living there and I went to visit her last year. There are no audio devices on traffic lights. In Ireland, traffic lights make noises and people can feel a kind of pulse from the traffic light, which is handy if they area visually impaired. In the UK, there are cones underneath the traffic light that rotate to let a person know when it is signalling. In the Netherlands, neither of those is used, so there are pitfalls to using the Netherlands as an example, for sure.

Regarding public transport, Ireland has a problem with transport generally. There needs to be connectivity. Public transport needs to be addressed.

As Dr. Casey said, climate action is absolutely essential and has to be taken but if access needs are being ignored, then it is not being done properly. A report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2020 stated disabled people will be disproportionately affected by climate change. We saw examples of this in Germany in 2021 when there were floods. Disabled people were stranded in institutions and they drowned. The institutions were in areas they could not leave despite the emergency when the immediate area was flooded. Germany is one of the worst polluting countries in the world. It will be particularly hit by flooding in the future so this will be a recurring problem if disabled people are not moved from institutions. Why do I raise this? Inevitably Ireland will face climate problems, so we need to decarbonise. This is an acknowledged fact. We need a public transport system that stands up to scrutiny and we do not have one. It is good in the city centre but even then there are problems.