David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 72: To ask the Minister for Transport the percentage of public transport buses in County Cork which are wheelchair accessible; the number of wheelchair buses being used for County Cork public bus services; his plans to support the expansion of wheelchair accessible buses in town and rural services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46402/08]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Bus services in Co Cork are provided largely by Bus Éireann. The company has a fleet of 164 buses in Co Cork. Of these, 116 are wheelchair accessible which represents over 70% of the fleet and, as older buses are replaced, all new urban buses are required to be wheelchair accessible. In fact, all bus services in Cork city are operated with low floor buses.

My Department's Sectoral Plan under the Disability Act 2005, titled 'Transport Access for All', contains time bound targets for the progressive realisation of accessible transport in Ireland. To achieve these targets some statutory measures have been adopted and others are planned. The Plan provides that by 2015 practically all vehicles used for bus and coach services will be accessible. The Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 requires public transport service contracts to provide, inter alia, for accessibility standards for services. I intend to include a similar measure for areas outside the Greater Dublin Area as part of proposals that I am developing to modernise the 1932 Road Transport Act. I also intend that the Authority may impose minimum accessibility standards on licences for commercial bus services operated by both public and private operators.

In addition, the system for tendering and procurement of services under my Department's Rural Transport Programme (RTP) has been reviewed to ensure that incentives and weightings are applied to encourage compliance with accessibility goals. Also, community owned vehicles are either already accessible or are being adapted to ensure that they meet accessibility requirements.