Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like the previous speakers, the Labour Party welcomes the motion, which focuses on people with disabilities and support for them in the area of transport. As the previous speaker, an Teachta O'Rourke, stated, this has been an area of focus for us on the transport committee in the past 18 months. As was mentioned, representatives of the Irish Wheelchair Association and the National Council for the Blind recently appeared before the committee to give first-hand accounts of the barriers, difficulties and everyday obstacles their members and service users face in going about their daily lives.

Last week on Second Stage of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022, which is a technical Bill on changing of the reporting duties of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who is present, to the Minister for Justice, we discussed how to disability-proof our entire policy-making in every area. That is a massive responsibility for the Minister and the Government. In the area of transport, we need to replace the mobility aids and mobility transport schemes that were cut in 2013, but we also need to look at investing in the public transport system and making sure it is truly disability-proofed.

Electric buses are currently being rolled out in Dublin. Hydrogen buses are being trialled. These are all very positive moves in the context of climate action, but there are still wheelchair users who, no matter what way the buses powered, cannot get on them. They are still excluded. I am working with a really good activist who has been engaging with Dublin Bus and other transport providers on that very issue. Climate action is vital. It is a pillar of every decision we need to make but equally important is true access. In the context of trains, it is about ensuring that there are level access platforms rather than people having to ring ahead to ensure there is someone there to help them on or off the train. We need lifts that actually work so that people do not have to go past Skerries train station, to Balbriggan, to go up a lift that they hope works in order to get to the other side of the platform and then have to wait an hour to get a train 2 km back down the track. These are the realities for people with disabilities. We try to highlight it as much as possible in the House. We may have another debate on it next week or next month or it may come up at the committee in six weeks but these people will have to get the train or the bus tomorrow.

Many of them do not have the financial ability to purchase a car they need. I represent a constituency that has a large rural base. We will never be able to get buses up every boreen of north County Dublin, so people will need cars that are suitable to their needs. From 2030 onwards, those will need to be electric cars. What is the plan there? I have asked the Minister, Deputy Ryan, several times about a scrappage scheme that will first cater for people with disabilities to ensure they can genuinely afford a disabled-accessible car that is also climate friendly. It is 2022. These plans will have to begin to be formulated and policies put in place and rolled out from the middle to the later part of this decade in order to meet the targets for 2030. People with disabilities need to be at the forefront of this.

Reference has been made to the Indecon research report on the cost of living for people with disabilities. It is a powerful piece of research. On average, the extra cost is €9,500 to €11,700 a year. It costs people with disabilities a quarter of the industrial wage on top just to try to live an independent life, eat, get from A to B and C, and heat their homes. During the pandemic, many people did a significant amount of unsung heroic work. I am sure all present can attest to that and are aware of examples of it. One such example is taxi drivers who have vehicles that cater for people with disabilities. They did an awful lot of pro bonowork to get people to hospital appointments, Covid tests and anywhere else they needed to go. It goes unheralded that when those taxi drivers who have vehicles that many other people in their industry or people with disabilities do not have were called upon by their communities and people who needed it, many of them stepped up and were able to fill a gap. That is not a system, however; it is people's charity and goodwill. We need a system.

The Minister of State gets it, but across Government, from transport right through to every other area, we need to place people with disabilities first. We need it in the housing sector. We need to ensure that a portion of every development being built has houses that are not just wheelchair accessible, but wheelchair livable, so that people can live in every single room. They need to be able to cook in the kitchen and have enough space to get around a table or into a living room. It is not just about getting into the hall; it is about being able to live in the home. Whether it be the State or private developers building homes, the State needs to impose regulations that ensure a proportion of homes for people with disabilities must be provided.

This country will be great is when that is being done, those targets are being met and we are putting people who are on the margins first. We pride ourselves as being a country of great charity, and we are - we do want to help people and have a sisterhood and brotherhood with those on the margins and other people who are oppressed - but this State has a less than proud history of putting in place policies and supports for those who need them. At the moment, and for many years gone by, people with disabilities have been on the margins rather than being placed front and centre of policy decision-making. That has to stop. We are a rich country with only 5.5 million people. No one in this country should be in need or want or left on the margins. This should be a wonderful place to live for everyone. What the motion calls for in the area of transport is modest in the overall scheme of things but it would be transformative for people with disabilities. I commend the motion to the House and look forward to listening to the rest of the debate.

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