Sir, - Picture yourself, as the train prepares to pull out of the railway station, looking forward to a holiday with friends or relatives in the country. Do you think of chatting with fellow passengers, settling down with your newspaper or a relaxing magazine and watching the green countryside flash past outside as the sun shines in and its warmth soothes you?
But in this case you are a disabled citizen using a battery-operated wheelchair. Your only means of conveyance is in the mail van, situated directly behind the engine. You board via a ramp; and as the train prepares to leave, the doors are slammed shut and you are completely alone. There are iron bars at the window and the window has been boarded in. There is not a flicker of light, no heating, no toilet, no refreshments, no clamps to secure your chair for safety purposes, no light by which to read your newspaper.
When the train finally pulls into Limerick, Tralee or Waterford you wait, praying that they will remember you are there. You hear laughter and chatter as other passengers disembark. Eventually the mail van door slides open and you emerge, head pounding from the constant roar of the engine, momentarily blinded as you emerge from the dark into the bright light of day. Giving an enormous sigh of relief, you set off to find a taxi for the final stage of your journey. But you may have to wait for up to an hour or more for a wheelchair accessible taxi to appear and even then it is very possible that it will be unable to accommodate you for, in our opinion, under the Irish Government's current legislation, the area allocated to communicate a person using a wheelchair is totally inadequate for a battery operated wheelchair.
North of the Border, fully accessible railway carriages and TXI taxis are in service now.
Strict regulations concerning the movement of live animals are enforced throughout the EU. However, it would appear that no such consideration is given by the Irish Government to its disabled citizens. - Yours, etc.,
Beth Sherrard, Secretary, Cork Access Group, Glenview House, Midleton, Co Cork. (glenviewhouse@esatclear.ie)
