asked the Minister for Finance when the entrances, staircases and lifts in Leinster House will be adapted to facilitate visitors who use wheelchairs.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Leinster House Wheelchair Facilities.
23.
Ramps for wheelchairs have been provided at the Kildare Street and Leinster Lawn entrances. The lifts in the office block are adequate to take wheelchairs but it is not possible to enlarge the lift in the old part of Leinster House or to adapt the staircases.
Is the Minister aware of the exact number of steps, regardless of the recently provided ramps, which have to be negotiated by a person in a wheelchair to get access to the public gallery?
We have gone some way in providing facilities for physically handicapped people and structurally that is as far as we can go.
Is the Minister aware that the first assurances on this matter in reply to submissions from the Irish Wheelchair Association were given by the Taoiseach when he was Taoiseach before the change of Government in 1973? Would he agree that the present arrangements for access to the Public Gallery effectively discriminate against wheelchair users because of the unwillingness, apparently, to reorganise the lift situation?
Much as I should like to facilitate such people, we have gone as far as possible.
Does the Minister not consider that the present physical state of this building is such that it would prevent anybody in a wheelchair from being an elected Deputy to this House? Would his attitude be totally different if a Deputy happened to be in a wheelchair?
Or a Minister?
This is not new. It has had to be dealt with over the years.
The Minister said he had gone as far as he could go. What would be the attitude of the Government if after an accident or a bye-election a Deputy was confined to a wheelchair? Would the Government then be of the opinion that they had gone as far as they could go?
Question No. 24.
May I ask the Minister one more question?
The Deputy is well aware——
This is an important subject.
——that this is primarily a matter for the Committee on Procedure and Privileges and has been before that committee very recently.
It will be appreciated that it has taken those of us on that committee ten years to get this far. It is very slow. May I make one further public request to the Minister? I thank him for the adaptations he has made so far, limited though they are. Will he adapt at least one of the public toilets in this House so that it could be used by the occupants of wheelchairs?
I am prepared to consider that.
What we are discussing is the right of a section of the population to visit their Parliament. That right is not there at present. Would the Minister consider as a short term measure making seating accommodation available to such visitors other than in the visitors' gallery?
This matter will be taken up with the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. We are prepared to negotiate with the Ceann Comhairle and the committee on any suggestions.
Question No. 24.
This is an important subject.
I have given this matter more than average time. We will now move on to Question No. 24.