Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank our guests for joining us today. I was listening to the discussion in the office before I came down. There are a number of issues that I worry about. We have a huge body of consultation and the paperwork gets done but let us look at the issue of on-street dining, for example, and how that was done. In fairness, that was done in a hurry to try to help pubs and restaurants during Covid but what consultation has happened since then with people with disabilities, to see how it can be reconfigured so that it works?

The second issue of concern is transport. I come from the predominantly rural constituency of Galway East. I heard Senator Flynn talking earlier about buses nearly knocking people down or scooters nearly knocking people down as they get off the bus. I would love to be able to get off a bus but we do not have buses in my constituency and that is a fact. In terms of the disabled population in this country and the Indecon report, it is essential that the funding to meet the additional cost-of-living expenses for people with disabilities is put in place. It is an absolute disgrace that we do not have any transport supports for people with disabilities. They have all been abandoned. We have a primary medical certificate requirement and an application process but no appeals process. The appeals board resigned because the process is not fit for purpose. That board has been vacant for so long now. We do not need to have any more dialogue on that. We have to call it out for what it is, which is a disgrace. It is totally disrespectful that nothing has been put in place at this stage. This committee has been strong on that issue and we have to call it out for what it is.

I am concerned about the active travel issue. We are spending a huge amount of money on active travel. Indeed, Government policy is that we will spend more on active travel than on roads. It sounds great in theory but has the policy been disability-proofed before the money is spent? It is important that we analyse what we are doing and how we are doing it.

I was cringing when our guests were describing the floating bus stops. I walk to Leinster House from my digs during the week and it is a bit of a challenge for me, as a fully-able person, to cross roads and navigate through the people coming at me, whether they are pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and so forth. What we are trying to do in this country is fit in active travel infrastructure and cycle lanes without standing back and checking for unintended consequences. We have to suss them out. We have made enough mistakes already. We should stop for a minute and make sure we get this right. We must do the consultation properly.

I agree with Senator Flynn that the consultation has to be at local level. It is okay to have big, citizen-assembly type conversations but we also need to get down to the grassroots. Our guests spoke about tokenism and in lots of towns in my constituency, we have disabled car parking spaces. We have also spent money installing ramps off the footpaths to improve access but there is no enforcement. In some cases, one would cringe. My plea to the public is not to park on footpaths because they are a lifeline for lots of people and not to park in disabled parking spaces because they are there for a reason. People have got to think and as our guests would say, "Come walk in my shoes".

My message to Dr. Mooney and Ms Gilmartin is that while I respect what they are doing and what is contained in the policy documents, the local authorities do not have the resources to implement a lot of stuff. Furthermore, who is taking responsibility and who is accountable if something is not right? It would be a damning indictment if Dublin City Council was taken to court over floating bus stops. That is not right. It is actually costing the State and everybody else money. We should just go back, look at it and determine how to do it better in order to facilitate everyone.

It has been a very enlightening morning. The problems being faced are very clear but those problems are not insurmountable. We just have to look at the situation differently and admit that we made a lot of mistakes in the past. We need to have climate action and a just transition. A just transition is a great buzzword but it must apply to everybody. As with the digital age, we are not supposed to be leaving anybody behind. We need to make sure the transition is just but not only on paper. People with disabilities need to feel safe crossing a road. They need to have access to grant aid so that they can get a taxi if they want to go into town to meet friends from Belclare or wherever. There must be equality of service for everybody. It might cost a bit more money but it is a worthwhile investment. That is what we need to do.