Pat the Cope addresses Sligo Access and the Disability Federation of Ireland Forum

Date: 05 October 2006

Addressing a Conference of the Sligo Access and the Disability Federation of Ireland Forum today (Thursday, 5th October 2006) Minister of State for Transport, Mr. Pat the Cope Gallagher, T.D. said that Bus Eireann will be replacing its fleet operating a service in West and North/South Sligo, with low-floor wheelchair accessible buses as quickly as possible.

Minister Gallagher said: “I am aware that Bus Éireann operate a town bus service in Sligo which now carries some 1,000 passengers per day and that the services to Strandhill and Rosses Point are operated with low-floor accessible buses. However, I understand that, while the Bus Éireann service operating between the north and south of Sligo was extended last August to serve some new housing estates, neither it nor the Bus Éireann service operating in the west of Sligo is accessible. I can assure you that it is Bus Éireann’s policy is to replace those vehicles with low-floor wheelchair accessible buses as soon as possible. Indeed, I am advised that Bus Éireann plans to upgrade its Sligo fleet in 2007 through the introduction of three replacement accessible vehicles.”

Progress on providing suitable accessible coaches for long distance services has up to now proven more problematic for transport operators than any other type of bus service, primarily because of the engineering challenges it presents. This has been the subject a major European research project called COST 349. A number of manufacturers are beginning to put the recommendations of the COST 349 Report into practice in the design of their vehicles but such vehicles are only beginning to come on the market.

The Department of Transport, with the assistance of the Public Transport Accessibility Committee (PTAC), which includes representatives of Bus Eireann, private transport operators and the National Disability Authority, is monitoring developments in the design and availability of suitable accessible coaches. “This will inform future procurement policy. In any event, we are aiming towards having the entire scheduled service coach fleet in Ireland replaced by wheelchair accessible coaches by 2015”, stated the Minister.

With Departmental funding, Bus Éireann is carrying out a major refurbishment programme of its bus stations with the objective of having practically all of them accessible by 2008. As part of that programme, Bus Éireann developed a project in 2002 to redesign Sligo Bus Station to make it a fully accessible and safer bus station for both customers and staff. Work commenced on the site in May 2003 and was completed in December that year on schedule and within budget.

The Minister also spoke of rail services for people with disabilities. Iarnród Éireann, supported by the Department of Transport, commissioned a comprehensive accessibility audit of all stations on the rail network in 2003. That audit detailed the works that are necessary to bring each station on the rail network up to an acceptable accessibility standard. Iarnród Éireann is carrying out this work on a line-by-line basis and prioritising the lines with the highest passenger numbers. Physical work has already commenced on the Dublin to Cork line, while design work for a station refurbishment programme on the Galway and Belfast routes has also commenced. “Accessibility is now a standard feature in the design of all new and refurbished rail stations,” the Minister added.

Some €3 billion of Exchequer funds was invested in public transport under the NDP in the period 1999 to 2005. A large element of the investment has been used for the upgrade and redevelopment of the rail network following a number of years of under-investment and represents the largest investment in railways since the foundation of the State.

This level of investment will be continued and grown under Transport 21, the Government’s ten-year investment programme for transport infrastructure in Ireland. Transport 21 will build on the progress of the NDP in developing the transport infrastructure vital to the economic and social life of Ireland. Over €15 billion has been earmarked for public transport projects in Transport 21.

“Transport 21 also includes financial provision to ensure that the transport system is accessible for people with mobility, sensory and cognitive impairments. This will be achieved in two principal ways. First, accessibility will be built into new infrastructural projects from the design stage. Second, funding will be provided to enable the phased retrofit of existing infrastructure”, Minister Gallagher assured the Conference.

ENDS

Further info: Veronica Scanlan at (01) 6041087 or 087 6430622