Fianna Fail Senator Fiona O’Loughlin called for greater access to personal transport schemes for people with disabilities in the Seanad.
Senator O’Loughlin said, “The ombudsman recently launched a report “Grounded – Unequal access for people with disabilities to personal transport schemes”. Its finding were disturbing , in particular in regard to the motorised transport grant and the mobility allowance which the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government did away with in 2013, promising that something would be put in place.
“It is almost nine years later but nothing has been put in place.”
“There seems to be a paralysis in terms of doing something. People are being denied access to work and to education, the ability to shop for themselves and a social and a sporting life, because sport matters to people with disabilities as much as it does to all of us”
Fiona concluded “We absolutely need to see action in relation to this, and it is incumbent on us all to ensure that this is dealt with in 2022.”