Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

I have worked with the Minister, Deputy Foley, on the national disability strategy and our Department has made a detailed submission to that. I have also met with disability public transport users, who are a very important part of our stakeholder forum.

If someone has a disability, it should not be any different for him or her to access public transport.

Regarding the physical fleet we have, I met with Bus Éireann officials about this the week before last. They have made really impressive strides in that regard to improve its fleet and make it fully accessible. Fifteen of our train stations are hub stations across the country. I met with Jim Meade at Heuston Station about a month ago and I met with representatives of the Disability Users Group. They really welcomed the advancements Iarnród Éireann made in ensuring that people did not have to book slots on trains 24 hours before. This is not what should happen. We still have work to do in that space and I am very much guided by public transport users with disabilities and what they want. We have started really well with them during the term of this Government. We have listened and worked with them. I mentioned our rail fleet in response to Deputy Boland. The new carriages will be fully accessible from ramp to platform. We have to continue. As I said in my opening remarks, the customer is central to everything we do. If we look at the importance of ensuring those with disabilities can go about their daily lives, using public transport safely is critical and is a core principle of the Department.