Written answers

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Public Transport Issues

Photo of Robert DowdsRobert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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696. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the efforts made to ensure public transport is accessible to those with neurological difficulties or reduced mobility; his views on the recent report on the Neurological Alliance of Ireland's survey findings that 24% of respondents reported difficulty in accessing public transport and 13% reporting having to turn down a service due to lack of transport. [17557/14]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Policy in relation to accessible public transport is contained in my Department's Sectoral Plan 2012under the Disability Act 2005 entitled Transport Access for All whichsets out a series of policy objectives and targets for accessible transport across all modes of transport. This is being done as extensively as possible having regard to the availability of resources. The plan is available at the following link .  

Accessibility for people with mobility, sensory and cognitive impairments is being built into new public transport infrastructure and significant progress has already been achieved in this regard with 100% of the Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann city fleets now  wheelchair accessible as well as 56% of Bus Éireann's coach fleet. The Luas service is also fully accessible as well as Iarnrod Éireann's Intercity and DART/commuter rolling stock.

Funding is also provided by my Department to the National Transport Authority (NTA) for accessibility improvements to existing public transport infrastructure and facilities under the Accessibility Grants Programme.  Since 2006 more than €70m in Exchequer funding has been made available under this Programme with the bulk used for the upgrading of Iarnrod Éireann rail and bus stations and to fund accessible bus stops and bus ramps. All new rolling stock has on board audio announcements and funding is being provided to retrofit older buses. My Department also provides funds via the NTA for the Dublin Bus Travel Assistance Scheme which funds an assistant to accompany a disabled person the first few times they travel and offers advice on planning a journey using different modes of transport e.g. Dublin Bus, the DART or the Luas.

Technology is also being used to help people with disabilities access transport services. The Dublin Bus Real Time signs indicate the arrival of low floor buses for wheelchair users and the Real Time App is ‘text to speech enabled’ to help the visually impaired. The NTA is examining the feasibility of the greater use of technology to facilitate the use of public transport by people with disabilities and I fully support these initiatives.  Together with my Department the NTA is fully committed to improving access to public transport services by people with disabilities in accordance with the Sectoral Plan. Given their responsibility for this matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the Authority for a more detailed reply and I have also brought to their attention the findings of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland's recent survey. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.

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