Vol. 485 No. 2
38 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if she has satisfied herself with the level of access to our public transport system, including buses and trains, for people with a disability, including wheelchair users and other categories of people; the Department's policy, if any, in this area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22759/97]
The task of making transport services accessible to the widest possible range of customers is essentially a matter for transport operators themselves. Successive Ministers with responsibility for public transport have pursued a policy which emphasises the need for transport providers to maximise the accessibility and userfriendliness of their facilities and services to customers with disabilities, having regard to the resources at their disposal. I fully endorse that policy and I am committed to ensuring that transport operators should continue to accord a high priority to meeting the requirements of people with mobility impairments as part of their overall efforts to improve service quality standards.
There has been a very positive response to this policy by the CIE companies in recent years. On the railways, it has been possible to achieve a high degree of accessibility of trains and stations to customers with disabilities, including those who use wheelchairs. It is now a firmly established policy of Iarnród Éireann that all new trains and stations, together with major refurbishment projects at existing stations, should take account of the needs of mobility impaired customers. Recent practical examples of this policy include the new enterprise service on the Dublin-Belfast line and the upgraded station in Kilkenny, which I officially opened earlier this week.
The buses acquired by the two CIE bus companies in recent years have many features which make them more responsive to the requirements of people with disabilities. Both Bus Éireann and Bus Átha Cliath are committed to operational trials involving large capacity low floor buses which are accessible to wheelchair users. Bus Éireann already has one such vehicle in operation in Cork city.
Bus Átha Cliath has now begun to take delivery of the six vehicle fleet of accessible large capacity buses which the company intends to assign on a trial basis to its existing service on route three with effect from February next. The company already has a wheelchair accessible minibus service in operation on the city's northside.
I am particularly encouraged that the three CIE companies have either established, or are in the course of establishing, user groups representative of people with disabilities. The input from these groups should give the companies very valuable assistance in their ongoing programmes of improving the suitability of their services for mobility impaired customers.
At present, an interdepartmental task force, under the aegis of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, is drawing up an action plan for consideration by the Government, based on the recommendations of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities. I expect that the outcome of that process will provide a basis for determining the extent to which additional transport accessibility initiatives can be undertaken in the years ahead.
