Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

I attended a pre-budget submission presentation by Rehab yesterday in the audiovisual room. I commend the work it does through its various entities: Rehab Enterprises, RehabCare and the National Learning Network. The speaker who was due to deliver the first speech, Padraig, is a wheelchair user. He was taking the train from Cork, where he lives. He had booked a wheelchair-accessible taxi from the train station to Leinster House. The taxi arrived on time and was wheelchair accessible but when he saw that the wheelchair was a larger motorised model, the taxi driver said his ramp was not working and that Padraig would have to call for another taxi. He called for another taxi and the same thing happened. The second taxi came but he was told the ramp was not working and he had to call for a third taxi. The third taxi came and the ramp was working but the driver did not know how to use it. Padraig and his PA instructed him on how to use it safely and Padraig managed to get to Leinster House and make his presentation before the session was over. The issue of transport overall was highlighted by many of the people at the session, as were the cost of disability and the many other issues covered in the pre-budget submission. As those speakers pointed out, if transport is not accessible, people cannot get to education or work, go shopping or partake in social activities. They have to depend on family all of the time, which is totally unfair. I would like a debate with either the Minister for disability or the Minister for Transport, because it crosses the two Departments, on the issue of accessible transport. We have wheelchair-accessible taxis but I do not know what the issue is with taxi drivers. They may be just too lazy to get the ramp out and help the person to get into the taxi. That also has to be addressed. That is totally unfair. This man had done everything right to get here on time and ended up being let down by two taxi drivers. We can be thankful that, with a little bit of help, the third was able to get him here.