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

I thank the Regional Group for tabling this important motion. I note that it is the second time they have tabled this motion, which indicates the failure of the Government to respond fully and adequately to the critical issue of equality for people with disabilities when it comes to transport. The equality to live independently, to participate fully in all aspects of life and to be provided with the transport necessary, are rights for people with disabilities. These rights are not currently being vindicated.

The proposals in this motion are to develop a plan across Departments; to introduce a new integrated transport scheme for people with disabilities; to provide funding to introduce a comprehensive transport support scheme; to replace the mobility allowance and motorised transport grant, which has been promised for over a decade; to reinstate and amend the primary medical certificate process; to reintroduce the payment of a cash allowance, like the mobility allowance; and to invest in transport infrastructure to support accessibility, mobility and inclusion for people with a disability. I want to agree with all those proposals and highlight a couple of them.

Whenever I speak about these issues, I first always want to pay tribute to the Access for All group, which includes Bernard Mulvany and his daughter, Sophia, who is a wheelchair user, and Sean O'Kelly, who is also a wheelchair user. They have been campaigning particularly around the access to the DART and about the fact that the lifts never work. They have difficulty with having any ability to plan to go anywhere because they do not know if the lifts are going to work. Because of their campaigning, there is now some new carriage stock on the DART. While they say this is a good improvement, they point out that on inter-city rail services that is not the case and there is still old stock that is not suitable. For inter-city bus and rail, people with mobility issues and wheelchair users have to give 24 or 48 hours' notice in order to go somewhere. They therefore do not have the same equality as we do simply to go to another part of the country if they wish to. I want to stress those issues. Also, only one wheelchair user can use a Dublin Bus at any given time. There is not enough accommodation for more than one wheelchair user, which is completely unacceptable. I want the Minister to address those issues.

The other group I want to shout-out for, as I have done many times, is Accessible Community Transport Southside Ltd. There was a situation not so long ago and the Minister of State may remember it. This is a not-for-profit, essentially voluntary organisation that was set up to provide door-to-door minibus services to people who cannot access the mainstream public transport system because of their wheelchairs or particular mobility issues. This service is critical for them to access services, have a social life and go anywhere. They were fighting for their lives as a service. They believed they were going to close down for the want of €50,000 to replace three of their four buses because they did not have the money to do that. Also, their ability to raise money through charity had been severely curtailed by Covid-19. They did not get the support they needed from the Government and, eventually, it was a local entrepreneur who stepped in and gave them the money to buy the buses and keep them afloat. They raise the question of why on earth the Department of Transport is not linked to all of this to provide an integrated transport service. Where is the Minister for Transport, Deputy Éamon Ryan? Where is the Department of Transport's service? They are the ones responsible for providing public transport. The irony is that their service is advertised on Transport for Ireland, even though no funding is provided by the Department of Transport. It is absolutely shocking and something needs to be done about it.

See this speech in context