Mr. Ger Deering:

They are only recommendations. We use what I call moral suasion. I honestly cannot think of a situation so far where a public body has refused. We are open to somebody telling us that a recommendation is not exactly right and that the desired outcome could be achieved better in another way. We are always open to that. If a public body did refuse to implement a recommendation, one of the things I would do would be to bring the matter to this committee, because we do see it as an extremely important part of the process. We see this committee as our link to the Oireachtas. I can make special reports to the Oireachtas and would do so where that would be necessary.

For years we have been calling out the lack of progress on accessibility to transport for people with disabilities. It will be seen in today's report that it is the first time in almost 13 years an Ombudsman has been able to come here and report modest progress.

I have always said that, until we had a Department responsible for dealing with this and delivering it, we were never going to get anywhere. Now, the Department of Transport has been allocated the responsibility for dealing with this and there is going to be a new scheme.

We do not give up. We keep going back to the public bodies and the Government. However, they are only recommendations-----