John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a good story this morning. Last Friday evening, for one reason or another, a lady who is deaf made a wrong calculation and missed her bus from Parnell Place bus station in Cork to Dublin. The staff and someone who works closely with me came across the situation. The lady was quite distressed but the staff and the Bus Éireann duty inspector behaved in a wonderful and person-centred way. They were not able to accommodate her on another bus that evening but they spoke to their colleagues in Iarnród Éireann and organised for her to be brought to Kent Station just in time for the train leaving for Dublin. Why am I telling that story? I am telling it because it is an example of people getting on with their public sector work and duty in a person-centred manner. They understood that the woman was distressed and that there were issues around her deafness and, between the two public transport services, did the decent thing and made it happen for her.

There is a bigger story in this and another way of telling it. We can say that people did the decent thing and what anyone should do. The fancy language for that is about cultural change. One of the things that needs to happen in terms of the UN convention and public services generally is that this mindset needs to operate all of the time across our Departments and public bodies. Even as a Tipperary man, I am very happy to be thankful for the good grace of the people in Cork and for what they did. It is good to underline it in terms of policy. People who think about policy and planning services need to think about people who have differences or different disabilities.