Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael)
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59. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the inclusion of persons with disabilities on the boards of public transport companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25316/18]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Since becoming a Minister, I have been particularly struck by the personal experiences related to me in my meetings with people with disabilities who use public transport.  As a result of wide consultation with members of the disability community and with disability bodies striving to make an impact, I decided that the public transport companies under my aegis should each have at least one board member who has personal knowledge and experience of the needs and difficulties of people with disabilities using public transport.

The competition for the appointments to the Boards of the National Transport Authority (NTA), Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Irish Rail, is being run by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) and the closing date for applications was 27 April last. I expect to be in a position to appoint persons to the Boards in the coming weeks.

It is also my intention that a similar appointment should be made to the Board of CIÉ. As well as the public transport companies, I will be appointing a disability advocate to the Board of Sport Ireland and this process is also underway by PAS.