Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There are many instances that demonstrate that the equality for people with disabilities to which we signed up with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, is not being delivered.

There is one that I want to draw to the Taoiseach's attention and that I ask the Government to address as a matter of urgency. Many people who have mobility problems or who are in wheelchairs simply cannot access the existing public transport system. Bus, DART and train services are not suitable for their wheelchairs so they have to rely on essentially voluntary clubs, that is if they exist, such as ACTS, which I brought up with the Taoiseach before and there is a similar organisation in Cork city. Those door-to-door services essentially have to fundraise themselves. They get bits of money here and there from this or that Department, but they get no money from the Department of Transport. People's bus passes, which are no good to them because they cannot use mainstream public transport, do not apply to these door-to-door services so they have to pay quite significant sums of money to access public transport. The Department of Transport gives no funding whatsoever to these door-to-door services. That is a lack of equality for people who are particularly impacted by disability. I think their bus passes should fund their use of these door-to-door transport services rather than relying on voluntary funding. That is what equality demands. I ask the Taoiseach to address that.

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