Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I remember speaking many years ago to a resource teacher in Loughlinstown in my constituency. He was saying that if you ask a child in the classroom to throw a balled-up piece of paper into the bin, they can all do it to the same extent, except it is much easier for the kids sitting at the front of the class than it is for the kids sitting at the back of the class. What this is about is levelling the playing field. This applies to disability as much as it does to educational opportunity. We must, therefore, be looking at levelling the playing field for people, irrespective of what challenges they face, so they can achieve as much as they possibly can.

I pay tribute to those who have been involved in organisations like Changing Places Ireland. I worked with them when I was on the county council trying to ensure we had not just proper and accessible bathrooms in public spaces, but facilities for people who need much more than just an accessible bathroom, where hoists and other facilities are required. I welcome that the group has achieved charitable status. I acknowledge the work of people like Ann Healy, Aaron Daly, Aisling McNiffe, Annette Monaghan and the tireless work they have done, along with my colleague, Councillor Vicki Casserly, in this space.

This endeavour, though, must expand to more than just that. Let us look at employment. We provide grants to people who require assistance, for example. We help them with a payment to allow them to do what they need to do. If they then get a job and start working, however, and make too much money, they will lose out on that grant because it is means-tested. They still face the same difficulties, however. They still have the same problems getting to work and with employers who cannot or will not facilitate them. This must change.

Transport has to change. If I am a wheelchair user, I should not have to call Dún Laoghaire Dart station in advance to let them know I will be getting off the first carriage so someone can come out with a ramp and put it down so I can get off. I stood in Woodbrook Dart station as we opened it, but that new fully accessible station still needs ramps to get people on and off the train. They talked in Iarnród Éireann about how they are bringing in these fabulous new trains that are going to be level with the platform and will allow, for example, mobility impaired people to get on and off unassisted. That is wonderful and I welcome it, but it is still two years away.

If we really want to level the playing field and if we really want to say to people with any type of disability that we are there to support them and to give them the same opportunities that anyone else has, we must be serious about it. We cannot say, "Yes, we are working on it and it is coming in two years' time." Now is the time to do it. We also need to work in terms of the supports we provide to people through social protection to ensure they have the same opportunities. This includes employers. There must be an incentive there to ensure this, because employers do sometimes need to make allowances for people with disabilities. Most employers will do it if they can.

What we want to do is make sure that it is not difficult for them to do that and that they have the capacity to do it. That is a key part of levelling the playing pitch too, because we know that people with disabilities are much more likely to suffer from unemployment. A total of 75% of them suffer from unemployment. That is fixable for many of those people. They want to work but, because of whatever challenge they face, they cannot do so and they cannot find an employer who either wants to or can make the changes that are needed.

Let us level the playing field. Let us put in place the measures they need to do what they want to do in order that they contribute the same as everybody else. Then we will have a more inclusive society, but also one that is better for it because all of them will be added in to the mix, delivering what we all want to deliver to make this a better place.

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