Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When a person in my constituency of Longford-Westmeath comes to my door, nine times out of ten, it is something to do with transport such as an adaptation grant for a car, access to public transport or the lack of access to public transport. Despite years of campaigning and years of lives lived less compared to how they should have been lived, we still do not have adequate transport services for people with disabilities. This is not just an inconvenience for them. What it does is marginalise and exclude them and compromise their access to services, including health, education, social and recreation.

We also need to remind ourselves that when people with disabilities do get access to transport, it is the first step on what can often be a series of steps by which they can access the same services as the rest of us be that access to day services or the lift in AquaZone, which is currently broken. There is always something else that people with disabilities need to face and it is very wrong.

This issue was highlighted by the comprehensive employment strategy, the national disability inclusion strategy and the UNCRPD as one of the key services that helps people with disabilities obtain employment. Deputy Martin Kenny spoke about Jess, his wonderful PA, who works in this building. I walked Jess to a bus stop the day President Biden came here - not because she is incapable of doing it but because it was near the bus stop and she was not familiar with it. I should not need to do that. She should not need to ask me to do that but those are the events that happened on that day.

Instead of stepping up, planning and delivering for people with disabilities, we seem to have a litany of Government decisions going back over many Governments that have compounded problems be they the discontinuation of the mobility allowance, the closing of the motorised transport grant and the need for a primary medical certificate to avail of the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme. The qualifying criteria for a primary medical certificate is based on arms and legs. This is not reflective of this country in 2023. It is archaic. Disability represents an awful lot more today than simply arms and legs. It is a very sad thing to say but it is a fact because it has been said to me by a constituent with a profound physical disability that at this point, it appears to them that the can has been kicked so far down the road that it is almost out of sight. That is wrong and that needs to change. That must end.

Sinn Féin wants to see rapid action on the proposals in the final report of the transport working group. It is the reason why we have the allocation we did in our alternative budget because it is necessary. This is not a luxury for disabled people. This is vital access to everything that could make their lives the very best they can be.

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