Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and I thank the Regional Group for bringing it forward. It is a motion about inclusion and ensuring the right to mobility and the associated independence for people with disabilities, and ensuring that people with disabilities can live full and active lives in our communities. The motion is welcome and necessary, and it should be supported. Government policy under successive governments has failed to deliver. It has failed people with disabilities and impeded them.

At a recent meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications, we heard from representatives of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, the Irish Wheelchair Association and Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind about the forthcoming road traffic Bill and about broader issues relating to access to transport. The witnesses spoke about the importance of the primary medical certificate. They pointed to the fact that the mobility allowance and the transport grant were stopped nearly a decade ago and have not returned. They pointed to the broad suite of issues that continue to impede. On the primary medical certificate they said: "A review is required of the primary medical certificate. It is as simple as that. The sooner it can get under way, the better."

They also argued that the certificate should be extended to include people with intellectual disabilities or autism, people who in the severe category will definitely never hold independent employment. They said: "They definitely need preferential parking for ease of access for their carers and themselves". Similarly, they pointed to the fact that blindness is not regarded as a qualifying criterion for the primary medical certificate, so a review of that is required.

In addition, they pointed to the cases of people who are too visually impaired to drive but are not registered as blind and, as a result, are excluded from free travel. That speaks to the failure of Government policy to respond to the needs of people with disabilities. There are hundreds of people in this category but, like for so many people with a disability, the computer says "No". There is no accommodation, understanding or common sense in the current systems and, as a result, people are excluded, disadvantaged and isolated.

The primary medical certificate is only one aspect of this issue. We need to replace the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant. We need universal design of buses, trains, taxis and associated infrastructure. We need public transport in the right place and at the right time that is accessible, available and affordable. The same goes for streetscapes. We need a full suite of supports to empower people and ensure they can travel independently. It should not be an after-thought, as it is, at best, in many cases currently. Rather, it should be built into everything we do - literally and figuratively.

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