John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the House. I am clearly going to focus on people with disabilities but I shall start by discussing the programme for Government. It states:

Throughout their lives, people with disabilities should be supported in maximising their potential, by removing barriers which impact on access to services, education, work or healthcare. In achieving this aim, the new Partnership Government should be guided by two principles: equality of opportunity and improving the quality of life for people with disabilities.

Recently the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport published its statement of strategy. In the first paragraph of the foreword the Minister states: "All elements of our new government are working well together and though we face many challenges ahead we are more than ready to meet them." I have no sense that the challenges to provide an accessible public transport system for people located across this country, who have disabilities and mobility impairment, were reflected in the statement of strategy. It would take another day to debate how much the Department has addressed the challenges but the challenges must be reflected in the statement of strategy.

Earlier the Minister spoke about the Rugby World Cup. I shall use a different sporting analogy by saying the Minister must face the puck out. I have not seen that happen in the work of his Department.

In the second paragraph of the foreward the Minister states: "Safety, accessibility and sustainability will be very much part of these plans." I did not see an ambition for accessibility and participation by people with disabilities in the statement.

The statement of strategy consists of 22 pages. Unfortunately, it contained no reference to the ratification or implementation of the UN convention, which is a major commitment and ambition that was outlined in the programme for Government.

At the end of the statement of strategy the Minister mentioned two commitments. The first commitment is as follows:

We will invest to make public transport services more accessible for people with disabilities. Examples of such investment include increased wheelchair access to bus and train stations, bus fleet enhancement and audio announcements on train and bus services, to aid the visually impaired.

When and how soon will we see the details of what is going to be done? I shall highlight the chronic issues that exist today.

The second commitment is as follows: "We will also introduce a provision whereby taxi companies who wish to bid for state procurement contracts must ensure that a minimum of 10% of their fleet is wheelchair accessible." It is nine months since this commitment was written in the programme for Government so we are well into the game. I cannot see why the Government has not delivered on this aim if the Minister and his officials were working on this goal.

Let me give a few examples of the kinds of issues that people must face. In Cork only Bus Éireann supervisors are allowed to operate the lifts on buses. Therefore, if someone wants to travel he or she must book 24 hours ahead, a fact that we already know. That is different from what everyone else needs to do. A supervisor must meet the person at his or her desired location, load the passenger on to the bus, follow the bus to the intended location and finally unload the passenger. That process, even though it is not a solution, seems to me to be highly inefficient and cumbersome. I cannot see why drivers cannot be trained to do these functions. If a person is competent enough to drive a bus that carries between 50 to 100 people then surely to God he or she can be trained to operate a lift on a bus.

Why is Dublin Bus the only service to have integrated assistive technology on its fleet of buses for visually and hearing impaired passengers? I have made this point before. The situation seems to suggest that there is one standard for the Pale and another for the rest of the country. These are real issues for people.

A huge proportion of Bus Éireann's fleet has nothing to aid visually and hearing impaired passengers in order to experience an independent journey. I raise this issue because people want to independently move from A to B and get on with their business.

I know people, some of whom are no longer with us, who got out of their wheelchairs on a constant basis and moved up the steps of buses on their bums. I am thinking of the late Dermot Walsh, Martin Naughton and many others who embarrassed the daylights out of the public bus company and the Department in order to make buses accessible. In fairness, bus stops may be very accessible because a lot of work has been done on this issue. Now it is routine that when somebody goes to a bus stop he or she will find that somebody has parked a buggy in the wheelchair space. The embarrassed driver must apologise to the person with a disability and offer to ask the owner of the buggy to move it but generally nothing can be done. I believe that something can be done about the situation. I am not saying that one should not facilitate other people but people fought hard for disabled spaces to be provided for people in wheelchairs and people with mobility impairment. The spaces need to be protected but I am not saying they cannot be used by others when not in use.

Like anyone else, I hope that Ireland is successful in its bid to host the Rugby World Cup. I am not sure that rugby fans from different parts of Ireland who have mobility impairment and disabilities would be able to get to the matches independently using public transport. If they cannot do so then tourists who travel here will be unable to do so.

People with disabilities and their families are unhappy about the way things are. There was an ambition and commitment given in the programme for Government to do something about this problem and the Government needs to crack on. I have not seen the ambition mentioned in the Minister's statement of strategy. Perhaps it does exist but I have not seen it.I ask the Minister to return to the House at an early date and outline the detail to show what will be achieved by the end of 2017, 2018, 2019 and perhaps even by the end of 2020. There is life left in this Administration and it has to deliver for people.