Holly Cairns
Ceist:260. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Transport the progress made towards action 100 of the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021. [38096/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 13 July 2021
Ceisteanna (260)
Freagraí scríofa
Action no. 100 in the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) is assigned to my Department, the National Transport Authority (NTA) and the public transport operators.
As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport.
Under the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, the NTA has statutory responsibility for promoting the development of an integrated, accessible public transport network. The NTA works with the relevant public transport operators, who have responsibility for day to day operational issues, to progressively make public transport accessible.
From a policy perspective we are progressively making public transport accessible by ensuring that new infrastructure and services are accessible from the start and retro fitting older facilities to make them accessible.
My Department’s high level policy goal for accessible public transport is embodied in the concept of ‘Transport Access for All’. This policy is based on the Disability Act 2005, key national strategies, including the NDIS and the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities (CES) 2015-2024 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
As well as these two key national strategies, there are also public transport accessibility related actions in a range of other Departmental and “whole of Government” strategies where lead responsibility has been assigned to my Department, the NTA and the public transport Agencies. All these actions across all such strategies have been combined into my Department’s Accessibility Work Programme. The actions in the Work Programme are grouped under 11 broad Themes to reflect the priority actions in the NDIS, including action no. 100, the CES, and the UNCRPD.
The Department of Transport’s Accessibility Work Programme is updated regularly to align with meetings of the NDIS Steering Group, and meetings of the Department’s Accessibility Consultative Committee (ACC). The most recent meetings of the ACC and the NDIS Steering Group were on 02 June and 15 June 2021 respectively. All of the Department’s Work Programme Progress Reports from 2017 to 15 June 2021, can be found at
www.gov.ie/en/collection/ed138c-work-programme/. Each Progress Reports contains updates in relation to the NDIS, including Action no. 100.