Vol. 530 No. 3
101 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the degree to which Bus Átha Cliath and Iarnród Éireann have upgraded and increased their fleets; the degree to which new vehicles are wheelchair friendly; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3961/01]
Over the past two years, Bus Átha Cliath has taken delivery of a total of 440 new buses, comprising 165 replacement buses and 275 additional vehicles. Of these, 245 are wheelchair accessible, including all buses purchased in 2000.
As regards Iarnród Éireann, significant additions to the rolling stock have been delivered over the past five years. These include the purchase of 14 train carriages for the enterprise service on the Dublin-Belfast line. Each of these carriages has a wheelchair accessible toilet and there are two designated wheelchair spaces per train set on the service.
In addition, the company has purchased 64 diesel rail cars in the same period all of which are accessible to wheelchair users. Of these, 32 have a dedicated wheelchair accessible space and an accessible toilet and the 20 which have been purchased most recently also have on-board audio-visual facilities to assist hearing and visually impaired passengers.
Iarnród Éireann has also brought into service an additional ten DART carriages with 16 more due to come into service at the end of April next. All of the DART carriages are wheelchair accessible while the recent additions to the fleet also have on-board audio-visual facilities.
It is my policy as part of the national development plan that all transport operators, and in particular the State transport companies, should provide the highest possible degree of accessibility to disabled or mobility impaired people within the overall resources available to them.
