Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

While I recognise that the words in the reply are not those of the Minister of State and that she is responding on behalf of the Minister for Transport, the response is very disappointing. The Minister for Transport is telling us that while it is very nice of me to raise this very important matter, he is not prepared to change the status quo. What does his stance say to disabled groups, the 31 disability officers in the 31 local authorities and the people with disabilities who cannot get a parking space on Wicklow Street, for example? Paying fines is a revenue generating exercise. It does not give the person with a disability the option to park somewhere. It does not give a parking space to a person who wants to park outside a GP's surgery and finds all the parking spaces full. That is exceptionally disappointing.

I ask the Minister of State to ask the Minister for Transport to consider Operation Enable, an initiative by Louth County Council involving multiple agencies and An Garda Síochána. I will photograph five disabled bays today and send the images to the Minister for Transport, along with a proposal to either amend current legislation or introduce new legislation. We can no longer speak about disabled access and disability issues in these Houses if we cannot stand in solidarity with disabled people who have told us, through the Irish Wheelchair Association and Disability Federation of Ireland, that they experience difficulty finding parking spaces and participating in their communities.