A dad of a young wheelchair user has slammed the lack of automatic ramps on trains just bought by Irish Rail.
The brand new trains are currently on their way over from South Korea - but they do not have automatic ramps like Dublin Bus. As it stands, wheelchair users have to wait for a staff member to manually put down a ramp before they can get off a train.
Bernard Mulvany from Access for All Ireland feels that a perfect opportunity has been missed to make transport in Ireland more accessible. He told Dublin Live that wheelchair users will be reliant on staff members for the next few decades and unable to make last minute plans., and that the new trains are not suitable for all citizens.
Read more: DART driver allegedly berates wheelchair user for not calling ahead for ramp
He said: "We are raging. They are spending a serious amount of money on trains that you have to rely on people to get you on and off.
"The worst part of it is that we are constantly being told to leave our cars at home because of the climate crisis. We have been highlighting this for three years.
"The new DART carriages are going to have the little automatic ramps. That's great but that's only 32 train stations.
"There is a whole country out there where wheelchair users have to wait for someone to get them on and get them off. It's big money, this means nothing is going to change for at least thirty to forty years.
"If you are a wheelchair user someone has to be there to put the ramp down so you can get off. You have to hope that someone is going to be there at the station.
"That's another issue because not all the stations are manned. Sometimes requests slip through the cracks.
"A lot of the time there is nobody there. The workers are usually are very good.
"It's all about trust, trusting in the transport systems that you can equally access transport but that's not there. It's just outrageous."
The full-time carer explained that not being able to easily access public transport takes away someone's independence and freedom. He worries that in the future his daughter may have to say no to plans with her friends if she can't rely on trains.
The People Before Profit man said: "You have to live your life a day ahead all the time. It's a human rights issue.
"It's more than just investing in infrastructure. People with disabilities and the elderly just can't access public transport if it's not inclusive.
"Spending that kind of money and not having everyone included is just not good enough.
A spokeswoman for Irish Rail said: "We are very mindful of those that have additional accessibility needs, who use our services and we have a Disability Users Group, where we discuss issues that arise and find solutions where possible.
"Specifications in the purchase of trains are long and detailed and take some time to complete.
"We ordered these 51 carriages with the same specification as the previous order, with the exception of some minor interior alterations in order to ensure that we could get the additional capacity out on our network as soon as possible.
"Therefore these carriage do not have automatic ramps.
"For our new Battery Electric and electric fleet we are currently working on specification with out suppliers and it is out intention to have automatic ramps on the new fleet."
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