John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House to discuss rail transport in Dublin and sports. It would be wrong not to acknowledge the deep interest he has taken in people with disabilities in his multiple briefs. He has engaged directly with people with disabilities and the representative organisations. At the end of last year, the Joint Committee on Transport Tourism and Sport produced an excellent report and the Minister has begun to honour his commitment to meet that committee and provide updates on a six-monthly basis. He made sure that people with disabilities have been appointed to each of the public transport authorities.

I now raise an issue that I have previously made him aware of. I still have little confidence in the NTA, which is shared by many with disabilities, on its commitment to transport for all. I may be paranoid but a leaflet on BusConnects came through my letterbox recently. I do not see any symbol or reference to people with disabilities in the document, which sets out the revised plan. The front of the leaflet has four people of working age, two females and two males. It talks about the service being for the future. My open question to the NTA is: is it concerned about the future of people with disabilities and mobility impairments in respect of its brief? I could recite many examples, and the Minister will be aware of them, but I wish to keep this on the agenda.

In his opening remarks the Minister stated:

The game-changer for rail in the greater Dublin area is the DART expansion programme. Next year, I expect to receive a business case in respect of this multi-billion euro investment. It is a very exciting project which will effectively double the capacity of the greater Dublin area rail network compared with today. When it is finished, the DART really will serve the entire Dublin area, as its name suggests.

Perhaps I am being particular but I am concerned about whether it will serve the entire Dublin population and the people who travel around the city who have disabilities and mobility impairments? That is our challenge.While I acknowledge the Government has committed to so doing, in light of what I have said about the National Transport Authority, NTA, it is important that we underline and take that issue more strongly on board.

With reference to childhood obesity and health, sport has had a huge part to play for people with disabilities going back to the late 1950s and 1960s when Ireland participated in the first paraplegic Olympics to run in parallel with the regular Olympics in Rome in 1960. The purpose of accessible public transport is to get people somewhere and that includes to sporting events, as spectators and increasingly as participants. I am keen to hear what the Minister has to say about making sure that facilities are improved for people with disabilities to be able to participate actively in sport. People with disabilities have to go through really hard-knuckle rehabilitation in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire and other places but sport too is rehabilitative and copper-fastens people's participation in a community. It has its own important part to play. Transport can make sure a person gets there or does not get there.

Following the lead this Minister has given, to use a sporting analogy, the ball is at the toe of many other Ministers to make sure that if people can use public transport, there is somewhere they can go and participate. The Minister has met Padraic Moran, a wheelchair user, on several occasions when he was a witness at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport. He is a young man who, unusually for people with disabilities, has employment, and he lives in Bray. He has had episodic problems using the DART, and problems with the maintenance of his wheelchair, which go back to the health services. He is an international sportsman and has represented Ireland playing boccia. The connections between sport and transport are critical issues for people with disabilities and to help us implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. What is the Minister's ambition for the next 12 months for people with disabilities? Senator O'Mahony talked about doubling spending in sport over the next decade. What does the Minister intend that to be like for people with disabilities?