Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There may be a misunderstanding on Bus Éireann. My understanding is the Bus Éireann city fleets are all accessible. The Deputy is correct that the ones outside the city fleet are not universally accessible. We might have been at cross-purposes on that. I take her point; it is one of the gaps that is not acceptable. Bus Éireann coaches are in a similar situation; they are not accessible. Those gaps will need to be bridged.

There are other areas that I have only really discovered since I researched the Deputy's question. I have to admit I was under the impression that things were rather better than they were until I started to research her question over the weekend. There are other areas, particularly on the railways, which she did not touch on, where there is a huge gap in the accessibility for disabled people. I gather that Iarnród Éireann is slowly carrying out a limited programme that is enabling some disabled people to access stations by making them wheelchair friendly.

There are other areas that concern me, which the Deputy has not mentioned. There is a huge gap with commercial vehicles. The commercial vehicles do not seem to be up to the same standard for wheelchair accessibility as are the State vehicles.

See this speech in context