Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I reject the personalised attack on the Minister of State by my fellow countyman earlier. This kind of populist politics is reprehensible and has no place in the House.

I welcome the Minister of State's ongoing focus on, commitment to and prioritisation of inclusive transport for people with disabilities and we are fortunate to have her working on this portfolio. I welcome this motion from my fellow Deputies, but we cannot focus solely on adaptive cars. We need to be broader minded as to what an inclusive transport system means. People with disabilities walk, cycle and wheel, if our built environment does not disable them. Our record on the rights of people with disabilities has been abysmal to date, nowhere more so than in our public spaces. We see so-called kissing gates installed by local authorities blocking access to public amenities. We see drivers parking cars on paths, parking in disabled parking spaces and we see poorly designed cycle lanes that do not enable people using trikes or hand cycles to use them. We must ensure that people with disabilities have the right to access our public spaces, because people with disabilities have the right to the same opportunity of access to education, employment and public amenities. This is not something that is nice to have; it is a right.

This Government is honouring its commitment to invest in public transport and active travel. Our national technical standards for designing and delivering this infrastructure must be inclusive. We await the national cycle manual from the National Transport Authority and we await every single local authority to avail of national funding and deliver quality mobility networks so that everyone can safely and comfortably move around, particularly if they cannot or chose not to drive. We need to recognise that road safety is predominantly a design issue. Our national design manual for urban roads and streets clearly outlines that priority must be given to a hierarchy of road users, that is vulnerable road users; people walking, cycling and rolling; public transport; and, lastly, private car traffic. A 30 km/h speed limit is proven to reduce fatalities and serious injuries from collisions, yet it is not the default speed limit outside every school and throughout our town centres.

We need to recognise the part road design plays in acquired disability. We have the data. We know three out of four people injured in road traffic collisions who were admitted to National Rehabilitation Hospital suffered a traumatic brain injury. For every pedestrian killed on our roads, eight are seriously injured. For every person who has been killed on out roads while cycling, 25 others have been seriously injured. Serious injuries from road traffic collisions can result in people living with spinal injuries, the loss of a limb and a lifetime of chronic pain. Serious injuries from road traffic collisions have a devastating impact on the person and that impact sends shock waves beyond the person's circle of family and friends. These statistics represent people whose lives are altered forever. We need to make sure our streets are designed so that they cause no harm. We need to make sure our streets and transport system is designed to allow every member of our community to live as full and independent a life as possible.

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