Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Members will have a chance to come in on a second round. I have a few questions and comments. Mr. Deering indicated that this is the first time he has been here since the 40th anniversary of his office last year. I congratulate him in that. His office has a good track record and the anniversary is certainly something to be marked. I am mindful that his colleague, the Ombudsman for Children, is before the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage today. It is almost a day to showcase the work of our ombudsmen.

Specifically, relating to disabled persons, I note the work that was done, and I welcome the fact that transport for people with disabilities is going to be under one Department. However, I encourage the Ombudsman to look broadly at this because there are a number of elements to it. There is one that strikes me. I will be very parochial but it illustrates a broader example. There is a small village in my constituency that is out of the scope of the Vantastic service. It is within the scope of the community car. While the community car is a brilliant initiative, the car cannot accommodate a motorised wheelchair. A person in that area who has a motorised wheelchair cannot access any bus services because the area is serviced by Bus Éireann only and not by Dublin Bus. If we were to look at this on paper, we would say that this person is fantastically well served by public transport options, but none of those options are available. I am lucky to represent a coastal constituency. If a person who uses a motorised wheelchair wants to take a train, they have to give 24 hours’ notice. That is beyond infantilising to a person. They cannot live as an adult if they are required to give Irish Rail 24 hours’ notice. How do they know if they are going to feel like popping into town for a ramble around?

I commend the work the witnesses are doing on this issue and I welcome the fact that this issue is coming within the Department of Transport. In the context of how much further we have to go, is it the Ombudsman's intention to work with the Department and this committee to get us to a situation where we have milestones or signposts that tell us we are going in the right direction? As I said, on paper my constituent is well served but in real life she is trapped in prison. That is how she will describe it. She has to use taxis to get everywhere, but she is on a fixed income. People cannot keep going down to the community welfare officer for a recurring expense, which it is, yet she is required to attend hospital at least twice per week for different appointments. This is putting her in debt. The barometer I would use for measuring the success of any scheme to enhance the lives of persons with disabilities is the lived example. That means saying this is how our work is going to impact.