Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will start with the last question. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has led the way in asking for the scoping exercise to be undertaken. He can give some evidence to the Taoiseach that will answer the sorts of questions the Senator asked. Clearly the NDA does phenomenal work and it says there is "foot dragging". What I have found is that when I have chaired certain reports or certain groupings, all Departments attend. If they do not, we call it out very clearly. When this particular report on transport was being done, all Departments, including the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, attended. To be quite honest with the Senator, unless those Departments attend such meetings, they are fruitless because everything comes at a cost. We can have all the talk in the world and we can all be well intentioned but unless there is a clear understanding that there will be a cost element to it, and unless they are at the table as part of the development of the report, we are at nothing. That is because we are coming from such a low base. I am saying that as Minister of State, from my perspective within disabilities, but I am not the only one who is saying we are coming from a low base. I think all Departments with a disability approach recognise that we are coming from such a low base. The experience we had in doing the transport report has been helpful. I refer to what was set out, to the involvement and acknowledgement piece and to the costings on it. I understand what the NDA is saying about foot dragging. While I see disability as the priority, we need to get to the space where every Department sees the person-first approach to disabilities as its priority.

I could not agree more about changing places. We should lead by example. It should be no different from doing the autism awareness training in Leinster House. We should have a changing places facility within Leinster House. To be very fair to the Leader of the Seanad and the Ceann Comhairle, we could not have two more approachable people to go to ask for consideration for this matter to be put before the petitions committee or the relevant committee. I think Deputy Murnane O'Connor sits on the committee, so we are halfway there already.

I was in Semple Stadium recently opening a new changing places facility that we funded under the disability, participation and awareness fund. It was the first time we created funding within the Department. My first budget ever was €2.5 million and we gave that funding to the local authorities to see if they could spend all of it. Approximately €80,000 to €100,000 was given to each local authority, for example to ensure the footpath went to where the bus stop was in accordance with universal design. Some local authorities spent it on awareness training for their staff, which was not what I was expecting it to be spent on, but that is where they spent it. Others spent it on changing places facilities. To be very fair, Tipperary County Council spent it on two changing places facilities, one in Boher and the other in Semple Stadium. The reason it was put in Semple Stadium is that it is the home of hurling and many Munster championship games take place there. The council decided to make it accessible and usable to all. It sent out a really good message to the GAA in general. If every GAA county grounds - I am not talking about every club in the country - could accommodate a changing places-level facility, with the key open all of the time, it would send out a very powerful message.

To me, the turning of the dial was the Leigh Gath piece. That is where we went from empathy to action. That was what we needed and we need more of that. As a result of this particular case, we learned that 48 people who sat outside the scope of the disabled drivers or disabled passengers schemes had to import and meet the rules with Revenue and everything else. Approximately 48 individuals who fall outside the scope have to be brought in. To be very fair to the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, and his team, they found a mechanism to be able to work with them and to find a resolution. I hope that will prompt a positive move towards addressing the primary medical certificates and moving on from what has been a stalemate in that regard for the past number of years.