Irish disability activists are to take their campaign for the rights of disabled people to live independently to the European Parliament next week.
Over 50 Irish campaigners will be among thousands of people bringing their fight to MEPs and the Council of Europe during the Strasbourg Freedom Drive next Tuesday to Thursday.
Martin Naughton, of the Centre for Independent Living, said yesterday some three million of the 60 million people with disabilities in Europe were living in various institutions.
"We are very concerned in the first instance with the continuing institutionalisation of people with disabilities," he said. "It is not what disabled people want. It has a negative impact and it can often cost more than helping people in their own communities."
The campaigners will highlight the need for governments to provide resources to aid people to live independently with support from their community.
Mr Naughton said the facilities to aid independent living in the Dublin region were fairly good but across the rest of the country they were poor.
During this second Strasbourg rally, the group will be meeting Irish MEPs, holding discussions with the European Parliament Disability Intergroup, visiting the Court of Human Rights, holding a rally outside parliament buildings and a march through the city.
The group is also due to meet the 107 MEPs from the Disability Intergroup, who are currently reviewing the state of air travel for people with disabilities.
"There is little accessibility to an aeroplane, if I want to fly to London for tomorrow. I have to phone and make sure they will accept someone in a wheelchair. If they say yes then I can go ahead and book, most of these lines aren't manned and you could be waiting for a long time. It is not unusual to be interrogated about whether you can walk," Mr Naughton said. "It is not easy by any means. We feel that often the situation is - do you people really need to travel?
"There have been all sorts of barriers to going."
Mr Naughton said some campaigners were using road transport to get to Strasbourg after airlines had looked for medical letters and other assurances that the person would have an assistant.
Among the Irish issues the group will be highlighting are the standard of independent living and public transport.
Mr Naughton said they had fought for a long time to ensure access to Dublin Bus was at a relevantly satisfactory standard.
"Now a lot of the routes are going to be privatised, and there is a lot of humming and hawing over whether we will have accessible buses," he said.
"It is all about being able to explain how people can be entrapped because of service requirements. Not because of a lack of willingness to work."