Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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24. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to review all bus, rail and tram infrastructure to ensure transport hubs are adequately resourced and accessible for persons with disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11049/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport, I am fully committed to strengthening public transport offerings and progressively making them accessible for all, especially for Persons with Disabilities, Persons with Reduced Mobility and Older People.

In line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) my Department and its agencies are progressively making public transport accessible for people with disabilities, including in rural areas.

We are doing that by ensuring that new infrastructure and services are accessible from the start and retrofitting older (legacy) infrastructure and facilities to make them accessible.

This means that accessibility features, such as wheelchair accessibility and audio/visual aids, are built into all new public transport infrastructure projects and vehicles from the design stage. Newer systems such as the Luas are fully accessible, as are all new buses purchased by the NTA.

However, the real challenge is in relation to upgrading older infrastructure and facilities to make them accessible. The difficulties and frustrations experienced by people with disabilities using such legacy infrastructure, bus and train stations, have been outlined many times.

In relation to these legacy bus and trains stations, or hubs as they are sometimes called, my Department funds the multi-annual ringfenced Public Transport Accessibility Retrofit Programme. This programme, which is managed by the NTA, includes projects to upgrade bus bays at regional bus and train stations and to upgrade train stations to make them accessible to wheelchair users.

In relation to bus stations, accessibility audits have now been carried out at 18 stations, In 2021, the NTA provided funding to install wheelchair accessible bays for coaches with wheelchair lifts and other external improvements in 23 Bus Eireann stations.

Turning to train stations, accessibility works have either been recently completed or are ongoing at several stations. For example, footbridges were installed at Carlow, Ennis and Edgeworthstown stations last year, while works are underway at Dalkey and Gormanstown stations.

This is in addition to the four-year “Big Lift” programme that Irish Rail is undertaking to upgrade lifts at 52 stations across the network. On the Luas network,  a system-wide upgrade of lifts is planned, with a scoping exercise currently being undertaken. These projects are particularly important as lifts out of service significantly impacts people with disabilities.

Of course, in addition, to make the “hard” infrastructure and services accessible, it is crucial to provide the “softer” type of support to enable Persons with Disabilities to travel independently on public transport, including traversing through bus and train stations.

The NTA and the transport companies have several initiatives underway which aligns with the UNCRPD, including the provision of Disability Awareness Training to frontline staff, the rollout of the Just a Minute (JAM) Card to assist anyone with a communications difficulty, and ensuring that information is provided in accessible formats for public transport services at stations and platforms.

In addition, the Travel Assistance Scheme, managed by Dublin Bus, aims to give people with disabilities the confidence they need to use public transport and has been successfully operating for 13 years in the Greater Dublin Area. To further this, the NTA plans to roll out the Travel Assist Scheme to Cork later this year.

I am fully committed to the continual improvement of accessibility within the public transport system.